Physical Activity Level And Nutritional Status In Brazilian University Students

Objective: The purpose of this study was comparing the physical activity level (PAL) and nutritional status between freshmen and seniors students from Physical Education Course of a university in the State of Bahia, Brazil. Materials and Methods: The sample was selected for convenience, being 41 students (53% male) with a mean age of 22.31 (4.20) years. The subjects were divided into 4 groups, according to gender and course stage: Male Freshmen Group (MG1) and Male Veterans Group (MG8); Female Freshmen Group (FG1) and Female Veterans Group (FG8). The IPAQ short version was used to measuring the PAL. The nutritional status was estimated using the Body Mass Index (BMI). The continuous variables were compared with the independent student t-test, as well as the ordinations with the U-test. The level of significance was p <0.05. Results: The PAL values were statistically different between the MG1 and MG8 groups, where MG1 was classified with a higher PAL (U = 21.00, p = 0.01). The same did not occur between the FG1 and FG8 groups. There was a statistically significant difference between the BMI means of MG1 and MG8 (t (19) -2,34, p = 0.03), favorable to MG1. For the FG1 and FG8 groups, the statistically significant difference was not found between the BMI means (t (18) -0.91, p = 3.87). Conclusions: It was concluded male students had better results in PAL and BMI. For females, there were no changes in the level of physical activity and body mass index, according to the moment of the course.