Consumo de vitamina C e ansiedade de estudantes do curso de nutrição da FACISA/UFRN

Abstract

Anxiety is increasingly prevalent among young people, especially university students, due to the academic routine, which can also modify eating habits and behavior. On the other hand, eating habits have helped in the prevention and treatment of anxiety and, among the nutrients with this anxiolytic effect, is vitamin C. In view of this, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between the consumption of foods that are sources of vitamin C and anxiety. in university students studying nutrition. 48 individuals participated in the study, who responded to a sociodemographic form, the Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T) and a semi-quantitative food consumption frequency questionnaire (ELSA-BRASIL), to investigate the consumption of foods that are sources of vitamin C. As results and conclusion, it was observed that the daily, weekly, monthly/seasonal/never frequency of consumption of foods that are sources of vitamin C is not related to the degree of trait anxiety (43.4 ± 9.0 points versus 47.7 ± 11.2 points versus 44.4 ± 4.6 points) and that the majority of students have medium anxiety. Therefore, more research is needed to investigate not only the anxiolytic effect of vitamin C, but also other nutrients, thus promoting the mental health of university students and the general population.