Raising awareness regarding dietary supplements among students of some faculties at Helwan University / Nelly Salah Eldein Hegazy ; Supervised Mohamed Hassan Mohamed Husein , Hanan Ali Sayed , Ahmed Ali Hasan

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Community Medicine

Background: Dietary supplements (DS) use has substantially increased in the last 2 decades for all age groups. However, no sufficient researches investigated DSs use among Egyptian college students. Methods: this trial study based on health education was conducted to govern the DSs use among non-probability samples of students of some faculties at Helwan University, using structured self-administered questionnaires. The knowledge gaps of healthy lifestyle components, and DSs were collected, then health education message was implemented to fulfill the knowledge gaps and tested the output. Results: more than two-thirds of the students didn{u2019}t know the main components of a healthy lifestyle and the role of food in healthy living. The majority of males and only half of female students practicing regular exercises (p< 0.001). DSs were used by more than two-thirds of students and were recommended mainly by the coaches while, the internet was the main source for information (p < 0.001). Sports supplements were the most DSs commonly used by male students, while vitamins and minerals were the most among female students (p < 0.001). Students exposed to the health education sessions were more aware of the healthy lifestyle components, (p < 0.0001). In addition, more than two-thirds of the DSs users stated that no benefits will be gained from DSs and, that even the beneficial DSs can be harmful in certain conditions (p< 0.0001)

Issued also as CD