Study on the Vitamin D Knowledge and the Vitamin D Intake of TARUC Student

Yong, Hui Ting (2021) Study on the Vitamin D Knowledge and the Vitamin D Intake of TARUC Student. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

Background: The development of bone mass is optimal during the age of young adults. During the pandemic of covid-19, TARUC students were having less exposure to the sun due to e-learning and MCO, which lead to an increase in the prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D deficiency could lead to various diseases in terms of bone, muscle, immune system, and others. Thus, more attention is required in the population of young adults. This study is conducted to investigate TARUC student’s intake and knowledge of Vitamin D, and also study the correlation between knowledge level and Vitamin D intake. Methods: Probability sampling was carried out. 379 participants were selected randomly to answer a questionnaire consisting 3 sections, the demographic part, knowledge, and intake regarding vitamin D. Results: A pilot study was carried out prior to the actual research. 30 participants were included to answer the questionnaire twice within a gap of two weeks. An acceptable Cronbach’s Alpha ranged from 0.8 to 0.9 were obtained for the questionnaires. Actual research reported that the TARUC students had moderate Vitamin D knowledge (64.29%), and insufficient Vitamin D intake (3.41μg). Overall, females are shown to have better knowledge levels compared to male, whereas vitamin D intake of male is higher than female. No significant association between gender, ethnicity, with knowledge and intake of Vitamin D was observed. A weak positive correlation between knowledge and intake was found to be statistically significant (r = 0.174, p = 0.001). Conclusion: The findings have provided some valuable insights towards the intake and knowledge level regarding Vitamin D among TARUC students. Proper Vitamin D supplementation strategy should be implemented, and nutrition knowledge awareness talk should be emphasized in order to improve the overall vitamin D status of young adults.