Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.S. in Food and Nutrition Services

Department

Nutrition and Hospitality Management

First Advisor

Melinda Valliant

Second Advisor

Charlotte B. Oakley

Third Advisor

Kathy Knight

Relational Format

dissertation/thesis

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the nutrition knowledge, nutrition choices, nutrition attitudes, height and weight perception, and current body mass indices (BMI) of recruits at the Mississippi Fire Academy in Jackson, Mississippi and professional firefighters with the Oxford Fire Department in Oxford, Mississippi. All participants were asked directly by in-person visits to complete a voluntary questionnaire to assess their dietary knowledge, choices, and attitudes, body mass indices, and height and weight perception. Recruits varied in age from 18–65 plus years. It was predicted that firefighters would have on average a high BMI, indicating a large prevalence of overweight or obese firefighters, due to the prevalence of obesity among firefighters found in the literature. Results indicated that there was no correlation between BMI and nutrition knowledge, or BMI or activity level. The average nutrition knowledge score was 44 percent, and the majority of participants were overweight (44.8%) or obese (46.7%).

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