Assignment写作—学生饮食与学习成绩的关系

www.hotessay.cn 浩天论文网 专业留学生论文写作辅导中心Assignment写作学生饮食与学习成绩的关系1.0 IntroductionFor many young adults joining university, it is a time of substantial change in social, economic and environmental surroundings.1 Currently, there is increasing advocacy for an emphasis on healthy lifestyle behaviours for student populations.2 Researchers have established that academic attainment plays a key role in an individuals future health, wealth and social outcomes.3, 4 Providing this, academic achievement must be considered by public health decision makers aiming to improve health across the lifespan.5A balanced and nutritious diet means it is adapted to special individual needs to reach optimal health, that is it supplies optimal levels of nutrients to maintain healthy function.6 Diet quality is a composite measure of scoring food patterns, with a focus on whole food intake.7 The objective is to maintain a high diet quality, through consuming the correct amounts of the food groups from relevant dietary guidelines. Assessment of dietary patterns can allow unfavourable intakes to be identified.8 Poor diet quality introduces nutritional inadequacies and is a significant predictor of poorer health status.9While the connections between health and education are widely accepted, the mechanisms that contribute to this relationship remain poorly understood. Scholars propose that health behaviours contribute towards cognitive function and maintaining a productive work day.10, 11 The main goal for university students is academic attainment, yet despite this, a high proportion of students report engaging in poor health behaviours during the study period.12 Australian university students are consuming less than the recommended intake of fruit and vegetables, and have a high intake of convenience foods.12, 13 To ensure students are provided best opportunity for success, it is important to understand the determinants of academic performance. It is suggested that the type and variety of foods an individual consumes has an important influence on academic outcomes.14 Diet quality has an association with academic performance, though the isolated effects are yet to be fully explored.15 The scores generated may be able to determine areas that can be improved to increase academic performance.There are several variables which affect diet quality and this review will focus on four major themes which emerge repeatedly throughout the literature. These themes are: overall diet quality, eating patterns and behaviours, fruit and vegetable intake and convenience food intake. In order to understand how diet quality is linked to academic performance, the literature was searched for relevant articles released in the last ten years. An analysis of terms identified the key words of: “student”, “university student”, “diet quality”, “health behaviour”, “eating pattern”, “academic performance” and “academic achievement”. These were used across the electronic data bases of Cochrane library, Web of science, Pubmed, CINAHL and Scopus. Although preference was given to recent articles involving university students, the final search was expanded to incorporate sources of all years, as well as children and adolescent population groups. The aim of this review is to critique current literature between diet quality and university student academic performance. Furthermore, it will assess current measures of diet quality, and the significance of other factors that contribute towards overall diet quality.2.0 Diet qualityDiet is a key behavioral risk factor that can be modified to have an impact on health.16 Free living people consume whole foods, which contain both nutrient and non-nutrient substances.17 Dietary patterns have synergistic effects, which provide insights beyond the role of nutrients and single foods.18 For researchers, it can be difficult to quantify the diet, and any established values should only be used as an approximation. Diet quality is a composite measure of diet in its entirety, and involves the relationships between food groups.7, 8 This qualitative perspective is an alternative approach to provide more detailed dietary information. It can give an indication to the types of food people consume, and therefore where the nutrients are derived from. Diet quality encompasses the central areas of dietary variety, balance, adequacy, and moderation.19 These have been found to contribute to a nutritious diet and can give a greater understanding of dietary habits. Variety and balance involve the consumption of a range of options from the food groups, according to proportionality. Adequacy is attaining the recommended energy intakes to meet nutrient requirements, whilst moderation is regulating the intake of certain foods to prevent harmful effects on health (including convenience foods that are high in sugar and fat).20It is widely recognised that a high quality diet should be safe, able to promote optimal development and reduce the