A Community Service Project report submitted to the Department of Electronics

K.G.R.L. COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS)

AFFILIATED BY

Adikavi Nannaya University,

In Partial fulfillment for the award of the degree of

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE

Submitted by
PAGOLLU KIRANMAYI
(Regd. No: )

BATCH : 2020-2023

Under the Guidance of

Mr. B. SRINIDHI

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS
K.G.R.L. COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS)

AFFLIATED BY

ADIKAVI NANNAYA UNIVERSITY, RAJAHMUNDRY

(2020-2023)
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project work entitled FOOD HABITIES is a bonafide project work
carried out by Mrs. PAGOLLU KIRANMAYI, student of B.SC, 2020-2023 bearing Regd.
No: 220290757 under my supervision and submitted in partial fulfillment for the award of
degree of Bachelor of Science, DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS, K.G.R.L. College
(Autonomous) Affiliated By Adikavi Nannaya University.

PLACE: ( B. SRINIDHI )

DATE: MENTOR
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the Project report entitled FOOD HABITIES submitted for the award of
the degree of Bachelor of Science in the faculty Electronics, K.G.R.L. College (Autonomous)
Affiliated by Adikavi Nannaya University, is a bonafide work done by me under the supervision
of Mr. B. Srinidhi, Project Guide, This report is not submitted to any other organisation or
institution either whole or part.

PLACE: PAGOLLU KIRANMAYI

DATE: Regd No:

B.SC 2020-2023
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am thankful to my project guide Mr. B. Srinidhi, DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS,

K.G.R.L. College (Autonomous) Kalasala Affiliated by Adikavi Nannaya University,, for his
timely guidance and suggestions which helped me to complete this project successfully. It is
pleasure for me to express my gratitude to my project guide, he was a constant source of
inspiration for me throughout my project.

( PAGOLLU KIRANMAYI )
 CONTENTS

TITLE

CHAPTER-I
 INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER – II
 OBJECTIVE
CHAPTER – III
 DATA COLLECTION AND METHODOLIGY
CHAPTER – IV
 CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ANNEXURE
CHAPTER-1
 INTRODUCTION

Eating Habits
The term eating habits (or food habits ) refers to why and how people eat, which
foods they eat, and with whom they eat, as well as the ways people obtain, store,
use, and discard food. Individual, social, cultural, religious, economic,
environmental, and political factors all influence people's eating habits.

Why and How People Eat

All humans eat to survive. They also eat to express appreciation, for a sense of
belonging, as part of family customs, and for self-realization. For example,
someone who is not hungry may eat a piece of cake that has been baked in his or
her honor.

People eat according to learned behaviors regarding etiquette, meal and snack
patterns, acceptable foods, food combinations, and portion sizes. Etiquette refers to
acceptable behaviors. For example, for some groups it is acceptable to lick one's
fingers while eating, while for other groups this is rude behavior. Etiquette and
eating rituals also vary depending on whether the meal is formal, informal, or
special (such as a meal on a birthday or religious holiday).

A meal is usually defined as the consumption of two or more foods in a structured

setting at a set time. Snacks consist of a small amount of food or beverage eaten
between meals. A common eating pattern is three meals (breakfast, lunch, and
dinner) per day, with snacks between meals. The components of a meal vary across
cultures, but generally include grains, such as rice or noodles; meat or a meat
substitute, such as fish, beans, or tofu ; and accompaniments, such as vegetables.
Various food guides provide suggestions on foods to eat, portion sizes, and daily
intake. However, personal preferences, habits, family customs, and social setting
largely determine what a person consumes.
What People Eat

In each culture there are both acceptable and unacceptable foods, though this is not
determined by whether or not something is edible. For example, alligators exist in
many parts of the world, but they are unacceptable as food by many persons.
Likewise, horses, turtles, and dogs are eaten (and even considered a delicacy) in
some cultures, though they are unacceptable food sources in other cultures. There
are also rules concerning with whom it is appropriate to eat. For example, doctors
in a health facility may eat in areas separate from patients or clients.

Obtaining, Storing, Using, and Discarding Food

Humans acquire, store, and discard food using a variety of methods. People may
grow, fish, or hunt some of their food, or they may purchase most of it from
supermarkets or specialty stores. If there is limited access to energy sources,
people may store small amounts of foods and get most of what they eat on a day-
to-day basis. In homes with abundant space and energy, however, people purchase
food in bulk and store it in freezers, refrigerators, and pantries. In either case there
must also be proper disposal facilities to avoid environmental and health problems.

Exposure to Foods

There are innumerable flavors and food combinations. A liking for some flavors or
food combinations is easily acceptable, but others must develop or be learned.
Sweetness is a universally acceptable flavor, but a taste for salty, savory, spicy,
tart, bitter, and hot flavors must be learned. The more a person is exposed to a
food—and encouraged to eat it—the greater the chances that the food will be
accepted. As the exposure to a food increases, the person becomes more familiar
and less fearful of the food, and acceptance may develop. Some persons only eat
specific foods and flavor combinations, while others like trying different foods and
flavors.
CHAPTER-2
 Objectives of Food Processing

The main objectives of food processing are:-

Removal of unwanted matter:
from the food. Unwanted matter maybe inedible, indigestible, harmful to health.
The unwanted matter is removed by appropriately designed gadgets the processes
include shelling, destoning, milling, peeling etc.
Making food safe for consumption-
food sometimes contain toxins which are harmful to health. These toxins need to
be inactivated. eg trypsin inhibitors in soybeans, fungal toxins such as aflatoxin in
mouldy groundnut & grains can be removed by visual examination. Use of
processes which remove toxins, and heat to destroy microorganisms & their toxins.
Increasing digestibility-
most foods are difficult to digest unless they are cooked. Cooking softens fibre,
gelatinizes the starch denatures protein & makes food easier to digest.
Enhance flavour, colour and taste-
The acceptability of food depends to a large extent on its organoleptic or sensory
qualities. Processing techniques enhance the appearance of food and many
techniques make food more appetizing and tasty such as caramelization of sugar
fermentation batter, and alcoholic fermentations produce superior taste as
compared to unprocessed food.
 Improve texture &consistency-
Processes such as emulsification, aeration, gel formation & increase in viscosity
are aimed at improving the texture and consistency of ready to eat, cook-chill &
freeze operations. Processing prevents changes inconsistency of such operations
during the freeze-thaw process crystal foods & disable texture can be obtained.
Minimizing nutrient loss-
Nutrients are better retained by controlled processing conditions such as controlled
heating, autoclaving etc lost during processing are generally compensated by added
synthetic vitamins. Processed foods are often enriched with vitamins, minerals &
lysine.
Extending shelf life-
Processing extends the shelf life, as all the processes like dehydration, cold
storage, canning & pasteurization are aimed at preservation of food.
Increasing acceptability through fabricated food
new products of uniform size and shape are being introduced in the market which
is good for health. Health drinks like aloe vera juice is blended with tastier
substances so as to increase its acceptability. Availability of ready to eat foods,
extruded foods is all because of food processing techniques thus helping in new
food product development.

In a nutshell, it can be said that main objectives are

 To preserve the nutritive quality of food by preventing them from spoilage due to
microbes & other spoilage agents
 Prolong the shelf life (preservation), as processed food is more stable than the raw
food.
 Enhance the quality
 Ensure that food is safe for future consumption
 Ensure availability of many food products throughout the year.
 Ease of storage, transportation and distribution systems.
 CHAPTER-3
(DATA ANALSIS)

The Surgeon General ’s Report on Nutrition and Health emphasizes healthy

eating habits and exercise as important health behaviors that help to prevent
not only the prevalence of chronic diseases, but also the deficiency in some
minerals and vitamins that are associated with fatigue, reduced attention
span, decreased work performance, reduced resistance to infection and poor
cognitive performance (USHHS, 1988). For example, eating disorders
create a variety of medical conditions that occur more frequently in the
college-age population as published by (Grace, 1997). For college students,
especially those attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities
(HBCU), these conditions are key factors that may have a lasting impact
not only on their academic achievements while in school, but also on their
professional performances before and after graduation.

One of the conditions that can affect the college students ’ academic
achievements is their inability to sleep due to bad eating habits. In a study
of the relationship between habitual sleep duration and eating disorders in
college students, indicated that short-sleepers were five times more likely
to exhibit abnormal eating patterns than long-sleepers (Hicks and Rozette,
1986). However, this study did not examine the socio-demographic
characteristics associated with students ’ sleep deprivations due to their
eating disorders.

Another researcher used the National College Health Risk Behavior Survey
as an instrument to collect and analyze data related to six health-status
categories, including dietary behaviors of HBCU students (Fennell, 1997).
The results of this study indicated that women were significantly more
likely than men to view themselves as overweight and more than one third
of them were trying to lose weight. However, this study focused on health
status, e.g., body mass index, rather than on specific eating habits of the
students and gender was the only socio-demographic characteristic used to
compare the differences in health status of the students.

Nutrition education is one approach used to increase nutrition knowledge

that can promote healthy dietary behaviors. However, a quasi-experimental
study of high school students indicated that although nutrition education
improves knowledge of nutrition, it does not greatly influence the food
choices (Anderson et al., 2001). A graduate student obtained the same
result using data collected on black university students (Unaegbu, 1982).
This negative relationship between nutrition knowledge and food selection
suggests that other factors such as peer pressure, especially among young
people and the media, including televised ads and food network shows,
have great influence on people ’s eating habits. Another researcher reported
that the media are responsible for perpetuating the notion that being very
thin is both healthy and beautiful (Ryan, 1995). This may explain why a
growing number of college students, especially females, are mostly
concerned about their physical appearance at the expense of their health.
For example, these students may try to adopt some attitudes and eating
behaviors to control and reduce their body weight through unbalanced and
ill-conceived diets by avoiding all high energy food products, skipping
breakfast, giving up milk, fruits and vegetables and eating far too little at
every meal. Two more researchers who studied the health behaviors of 224
HBCU undergraduate students enrolled in health education classes
indicated that most students do not eat breakfast, have a diet that is not
nutritionally balanced and are usually not involved in daily physical
activity (Ford and Goode, 1994).

Although breakfast is considered the most important meal of the day, the
gender seems to make a significant difference. Females skip breakfast three
times more often than males, mainly because they do not have time and are
not hungry in the morning (Shaw, 1998). However, the results of the study
were not consistent with prior findings showing that males and young
children, especially those from low-income families, are more frequent
breakfast-skippers that other groups due to lack of money and food
(McIntyre, 1993). Breakfast-skipping not only is associated with lower total
energy intake and worse intake of various vitamins and minerals, but this
abstinence is not compensated by other nutrient intakes during the rest of
the day (Nicklas et al., 1993). Another published study indicated that
breakfast-skippers are more likely to eat foods that are high in fat and
sodium content, such as high-fat snacks, which often result in higher
cholesterol levels (Resnicow, 1991). Based on the literature review showing
very scarce information on eating habits of college students at HBCU, we
decided to conduct a study to analyze eating habits according to socio-
demographic characteristics of college students.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The subjects of this study included a convenience sample of 212 black

students attending the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
(FAMU), an HBCU institution located in Tallahassee, Florida. Gender
(male vs. female), residential status (on-campus vs. off-campus) and
academic classification (freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors and
graduates) are the three nominal variables used in the survey to assess the
socio-demographic characteristics of the students. Nearly 72% of the
students (n = 152) were females and 28% were males (n = 60); 72% lived
off campus in their own houses or apartments (n = 153) and 28% lived on
campus in FAMU dormitories and housing units (n = 59). The academic
classification of these 212 students included 65 freshmen (31%), 60
sophomores (28%), 40 juniors (19%), 32 seniors (15%) and 15 graduates
(7%). More than half of the students (58%) were between 18 and 20 years
old; 36% were between 21 and 24 years old and only 6% were 25 years and
older.

The survey instrument used to collect data was a 32-item nutrition

questionnaire, which included not only the above socio-demographic
characteristics, but also a series of multiple-choice and open-end questions
that assessed various eating habits of the students, in terms of the type and
frequency of the food consumed. Students ’ participation in the survey was
voluntary and responses to these questions were anonymous, e.g., the
questionnaire did not include any student identifiers or names. The
questionnaire was completed during regular class period by students from
the Colleges of Nursing, Pharmacy and Agricultural Sciences, who were
enrolled in nutrition classes. A team of 5 research assistants, including 3
undergraduate and 2 graduate students, were in charge of distributing the
questionnaire, which was completed by the respondents in the presence of
the research assistant in Spring 2003 (n = 111) and in Spring 2004 (n =
101).

Responses to all eating habit questions, except the number of meals and
snacks consumed daily, were nominal variables coded as Yes or No to
facilitate the cross-tabulation and bivariate analysis of the data. The cross-
tabulations of each eating habit by gender, residential status and academic
classification resulted in a series of contingency tables in which the rows
identified the categories pertaining to various eating habits and the columns
identified the categories of each socio-demographic characteristic. For
these nominal variables, chi-square (x 2 ) was the statistical technique used
for testing whether there are significant differences in each eating habit
according to socio-demographic characteristics of the FAMU students. For
the two quantitative variables, i.e., number of meals and number of snacks
consumed daily, the analysis of variance was the statistical technique used
for testing differences in these eating habits according to socio-
demographic characteristics of the students.

The simplest method for looking at relationships between nominal variables

in a two-way classification of the data is to compare the percentages based
on the row totals, the column totals or the overall total (Ott, 1993). Using
this method, the eating habit entries (frequencies) for nominal variables are
reported in Table 1 as percentages of the column total, showing the relative
number of times each eating habit occurred within each socio-demographic
category. For the two quantitative variables, the eating habit entries are
reported as average number of meals and snacks consumed daily.

RESULTS

The overall null hypothesis of this study is that there would be no

significant differences in eating habits according to socio-demographic
characteristics of FAMU students. Using alpha = 0.10 as the level of
significance for eating habits measured as nominal variables, the null
hypothesis would be rejected if the computed value of chi-square (x 2 ) is
greater than the critical value in the table of chi-square (x 2 ) sampling
distribution.

Eating meals and snacks daily:

As shown in Table 1, the average number of meals consumed per student

daily was 2.04, suggesting that some students skipped at least one of the
three meals (i.e., breakfast, lunch or dinner). The results also show that the
average number of meals consumed daily is slightly higher among students
who are males, living off campus and academically classified as
sophomores or seniors. As shown in Table 1, however, these differences in
the average number of meals and snacks consumed are not statistically
significant according to the three socio-demographic characteristics of the
students involved in this study.

The most important meal of the day:

The bivariate analysis of the data in Table 1 shows significant differences

in breakfast eating habit according to gender and academic classification of
the students. According to these data, the percentage of breakfast eaters is
significantly higher among females (43.7%) than males (35%) and among
senior and graduate students, who account for more than 50% of breakfast
eaters. There is no significant difference in breakfast eating habit according
to students ’ residential status, i.e., living on-campus versus off-campus.

In response to the question “what is the most important meal of the day ”,
more than 77% of the students, regardless of their socio-demographic
characteristics, think that dinner is the most important meal of the day,
compared to only 13.2% and 8.5% of the students who think respectively
that lunch and breakfast are the most important meals of the day. However,
as shown in Table 1, the differences in the percentages of students, who
think that dinner is the most important meal of the day, are statistically
significant only according to academic classification of the students. By
contrast, both gender and residential status make significant differences in
the percentages of students who think that lunch is the most important meal
of the day. As shown in the table, this percentage is significantly higher
among females and those living on-campus. Furthermore, only gender and
academic classification make a significant difference in the percentage of
students who think that breakfast is the most important meal of the day,
with males (13.4%) having a significantly high percentage than females
(8.6%) and both freshmen (13.8%) and seniors (12.5%) having high
percentages than juniors (5%), sophomores (8.3%) or graduates (6.7%).

Drinking habits:

Milk, water, juice and soda were the four categories of beverages used to
assess the drinking habits of students involved in this study. Students had
three options to indicate how often they consumed each drink daily: never,
once, or more than once. As shown in Table 1, the highest percentage of
students drank water (84%) and juice (84.7%) daily rather than milk (38%)
and soda (50.5%).

Residential status makes significant differences only in the drinking habit

for juice and soda, with students living on-campus being more likely to
drink juice (90.7%) and soda (55.9%) as compared to 82.4% and 48.4%
respectively of those living off-campus. Academic classification does not
make a significant difference in the drinking habit for juice. However, it
has a significant impact on drinking habit for milk water and soda. For
example, graduate students (93.3%) have the highest percentage of students
who drink water daily as compared to seniors (90.6%), juniors (85%),
freshmen (83.1%) and sophomores (78.3%). Those who drink juice daily
are less likely to be graduate students, who have the lowest percentage of
juice drinkers (73.3%), as compared to the other academic classification
groups with more than 80%. Finally, the percentage of those who drink
soda is significantly higher among graduate students (60%), followed in
descending order by freshmen (55.4%), sophomores (51.7%), juniors
(47.5%) and seniors (37.5%).

Cooking habits: Students were asked whether they were more likely than
not to cook their own food or eat in a restaurant or order out their food.
More than half (55.7%) indicated that they cooked their own food compared
to those who ate in a restaurant (10.4%) or ordered out their food (34.9%).
However, as shown in Table 1, there are some significant differences in
these percentages according to the three socio-demographic characteristics
of the students as indicated below.

Analysis by gender shows that college students are more likely to cook
their own food if they are females (61.6%) rather than males (41.7%).
Those who eat in a restaurant or order out their food are more likely to be
males rather than females. For example, among those who eat in a
restaurant, the percentage of males (16.7%) is almost twice the percentage
of females (8.6%). Furthermore, the percentage of students who order out
their food is significantly higher among males (41.7%) compared to females
(31.8%).
 Table Eating habits according to socio-demographic
1: characteristics of college students*

*p>0.10, chi-square test

Residential status also makes significant differences in cooking habits of

college students. As expected, students living off campus are more likely to
cook their own food rather than eating in a restaurant or ordering out their
food. By contrast, those living on campus are less likely to cook their own
food and prefer to eat in a restaurant or order out their food. As shown
in Table 1, the percentage of those living on campus who cook their own
food, eat in restaurants and order out food is 42.4%, 22.0%, me and 39.0%
respectively, compared to 60.8%, 5.9% and 33.3%, respectively, among
those living off campus.

Analysis by academic classification shows that students are more likely to

cook their own food if they are sophomores (60%), juniors (65%) and
seniors (62.5 %) rather than freshmen (41.5) and graduates (46.7). As
shown in Table 1, freshmen (20%) have the highest percentage of students
who eat in a restaurant and the percentage of students who order out their
food is significant higher among graduates (46.7%) than any other group.

Eating fruits and vegetables:

Vegetables and fruits are the most important source of vitamins and
minerals for the human body. The results indicate that only 15.7% of the
students eat fresh fruits daily compared to 65.1% who eat processed fruits
regularly. Students, who eat fresh fruits less than once a day, do so more
than once a week (35.4%), only once a week (18.4%) or less than once a
week (30.2%).

Analysis by the three socio-demographic characteristics shows that the rate

of frequent fresh fruit eaters is significantly higher if students are females
(17.2%) rather than males (11.7%); live off-campus (18.3%) rather than on-
campus (8.5%) and are highly academically classified as graduates (33.3%),
seniors (15.6%) and juniors (32.5%) rather than less academically classified
as freshmen (7.7%) and sophomores (8.3%). Furthermore, although the
gender makes a significant difference in the rate of eating processed fruits
regularly, with females (70.9%) having higher percentage than males
(53.3%), there are no significant differences according to residential status
or academic classification of the students.

Overall, more students eat vegetables daily (48.1%) as compared to

percentage of daily fresh fruit eaters (15.7%). As indicated in Table 1, the
rate of frequent vegetable eaters is significantly higher if students are
females (51%) rather than males (43.3%); living off-campus (53%) rather
than on-campus (40.7%) and highly academically classified as graduates
(60%), seniors (68.8%) and juniors (47.5%), rather than less academically
classified as sophomores (46.7%) and freshmen (38.5%).

Changes in eating habits:

Regardless of their socio-demographic characteristics, about 18.9.0% of the
students thought that their eating habits improved since attending college
and 62.9% of them felt that their eating habits worsened after joining the
university. Although gender does not make a significant difference, the
improvement in eating habits is mostly felt if students live off-campus
(24.2%) rather on-campus (13.6%) or are highly academically classified as
graduates (40%), seniors (21.6%) or juniors (25%) rather than less
academically classified as sophomores (18.3%) or freshmen (16.9).

Overall, about 27.8% of the students think that they have “good eating
habits ”. However, this rate varies significantly according to their socio-
demographic characteristics. Most students, who think that they have good
eating habits, tend to be among males (31.7%) rather than females (27.2%);
those living off-campus (30.1%) rather than on-campus (22%) and those in
higher academic classifications, especially juniors (30%%) and seniors
(43.8%) rather than lower academic classification such as freshmen (16.9%)
and sophomores (27.5%)
 CHAPTER-4
(CONCLUSION)
 CONCLUSION

This research suggests that the quantity of unhealthy snacks consumed by students
in the faculty of Land and Food systems is not statistically different from the
quantity of unhealthy snacks consumed by students in faculties that lack exposure
to nutrition education. In other words, although students in LFS consume smaller
quantities of unhealthy snacks than students in other faculties, the quantity
difference is too minute to be considered statistically significant. Therefore, we
cannot reach a definitive conclusion that LFS students adopt healthier eating habits
and thereby extrapolate that nutrition education has minimal impact on the eating
habits of students.

This research can be improved or clarified by increasing the sample size, and
perhaps, increasing the number of buildings surveyed on campus. A secondary
variable that could be included to further clarify our research is, to determine
whether or not the surveyed individual has taken any nutritional course as an
elective or any extracurricular nutritional classes. If the individual has indeed taken
optional nutritional courses, it may provide further insight to the results and
eliminate bias. In addition, more snack options can also be included in the survey
sheet so that most if not all snack foods will be considered. Potential researches
that enrich this topic may look into conducting cluster sampling to expand the
research to different regions of Canada or in the world. Researchers who are
focusing on food insecurity or malnutrition could look into high-risk areas and
third world countries. Future food infrastructure developments and school
pedagogies can utilize the results from these studies to implement a nutritionally
balanced school food system. Limitations of this study include two potential
sampling biases– the non-response response and convenience bias. A few students
surveyed seem reluctant to fill in the survey sheet, which may potentially affect the
answers they give. There may also be a convenience sampling bias given that the
students were only surveyed at the FNH, MacMillan, and Hennings buildings. This
is largely due to the scale of this study and limiting resources.
BIBLOGRAPHY
 https://blogs.ubc.ca/eatinghabits/conclusion/

 https://www.google.com/search?q=CONCLUSIONOF+
FOOD+HABITIES&rlz=1C1VDKB_enIN958IN958&sx
srf=ALiCzsZZgUqBmF5FquN5Qw3gCPwg3cymxQ%3
A1657558884714&ei=ZFfMYtiWK6rG3LUPuPu9gAI&
ved=0ahUKEwjY2JGEqPH4AhUqI7cAHbh9DyAQ4dU
DCA4&uact=5&oq=CONCLUSIONOF+FOOD+HABI
TIES&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyBAgAEA1KBAhB
GABKBAhGGABQAFjKFmDEGWgAcAF4AIAB2QO
IAd8XkgEHMi02LjMuMZgBAKABAcABAQ&sclient=
gws-wiz
ANNEXURE
 K.G.R.L. COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS)

COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT

LOG BOOK
Name of the Student : Register number :

Programme Studying : Programme combination :

Year : Name of the mentor :

Name of the C.S.P : Place of C.S.P :

S.NO DATE WORKDONE NUMBER OF

HOURS SPENT

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