DIETARY DIVERSITY AMONG FEMALE STUDENTS IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES OF AKWA IBOM STATE, NIGERIA

The study assessed the dietary diversity among female students in public universities of Akwa Ibom State,Nigeria. Specifically, the study determined the frequency of consumption of food groups within the recall period,the prevalence, margin and intensity of dietary diversity of the respondents. A two-stage sampling procedure wasused to select 182 respondents. Data were collected with the aid of a well-structured questionnaire and analyzeddescriptively. Majority of the respondents were single (61%), and (64%) received a monthly allowance of₦15000. Many consumed starchy staple foods, beans and peas, vitamin A-rich vegetables and other vegetablesand fruits. About 55% of the respondents were dietary diverse, based on the average as critical index.Disaggregated mean prevalence pair for dietary diverse and non-dietary diverse female students, is 0.85 and 0.51.Mean margin, expressed as a function only for those who are not dietary diverse, with the mean and 2/3 of themean as critical index respectively are 0.19 and 0.26 respectively. The study concluded that there is a marginbetween dietary diverse and dietary non-diverse students, and recommends that the gap between these twocategories be bridged by programmes geared at encouraging more dietary diversity. This can be done with policyadvocacy on production, purchasing and consumption decisions with special emphasis on dietary needs