Knowledge and Prevalence of common Nutritional Patterns among Non-elite Student Athletes in Lead City University, Ibadan

Abstract

Nutrition has been seen by many scholars as a branch of science that deals with nutrients 
particularly in humans. Proper nutrition offers one of the most effective and least costly ways to 
decrease the burden of many diseases and their associated risk factors, including obesity. This study 
therefore, focused on knowledge and common nutritional patterns among non-elite student Athletes 
in Lead City University, Ibadan.Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to 
select 100 respondents for the study, while questionnaire was used for data collection. Descriptive 
statistics of frequency counts, percentages, mean, and standard deviation were used for the analysis. 
The results showed that, the level of knowledge of nutrition among student-athletes in LCU Ibadan 
was high 58.0%. Furthermore, sweetness was rated 1st with a weighted mean score of 2.63, followed 
by skipping of meals with a weighted mean of 2.41; social media was rated 3rd with a (weighted 
mean score of 2.24, while quality of food was the least with a weighted mean score of 2.09. This 
means that sweetness was the foremost prevalence nutritional pattern among student athletes in 
Lead City University, while quality of food was the least. It was concluded that the level of 
knowledge of nutrition among student athletes in Lead City University Ibadan was high with 
Sweetness being the foremost prevalence nutritional pattern. The Sports council of Lead City 
University, Ibadan should therefore, organize periodic sensitization programme for student-athletes 
of the institution on health implications of dietary patterns as they affect nutritional status of such 
athletes.