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14 October 2022 | Story Prof Johan van Niekerk, Dr Ismari van der Merwe, and Ms Elzmarie Oosthuizen | Photo Supplied
Sustainable food
World Food Day is celebrated annually on 16 October to promote global awareness and action to uplift those who suffer from hunger and to highlight the need to ensure access to healthy diets for all.

Opinion article by Prof Johan van Niekerk, Dr Ismari van der Merwe, and Ms Elzmarie Oosthuizen, Department of Sustainable Food Systems and Development, University of the Free State.



World Food Day is celebrated annually on 16 October to promote global awareness and action to uplift those who suffer from hunger and to highlight the need to ensure access to healthy diets for all. However, in 2022 we are faced with an ongoing pandemic, conflict, global warming, rising prices, and international tensions. All these factors are affecting global food security. Educators have an enormous task to help students develop skills to help build a sustainable world where everyone has regular access to nutritious food. 

Although we have progressed towards building a better world, many people have been left behind – people who cannot benefit from human development, innovation, or economic growth. Millions of people worldwide cannot afford a healthy diet, putting them at high risk of food insecurity and malnutrition. But ending hunger is not only about supply. Enough food is produced today to feed everyone on the planet. The problem is access and availability of nutritious food. People worldwide are suffering from the domino effects of challenges that know no borders.

Students have insufficient balance for food

South Africa has seen a significant expansion of student enrolment in the higher education system, with nearly one million students attending one of the 26 public universities. The number of students in South Africa's higher education system is far below other middle-income developing countries. Therefore, the government aims to increase university enrolment to 1,5 million by 2030. However, the cost of attending university greatly exceeds the financial means of most students. 
Students must divide their budget between rent, tuition, utilities, and the remaining insufficient balance for food, which ultimately increases their food insecurity risk.
Moreover, the transition of school learners to university students is more complicated than foreseen since lifestyle changes have health implications, where the excitement is combined with stress from pressure to perform well academically in a competitive environment. Research has found that first-year students are exceptionally prone to food insecurity. They have newfound independence and are still learning to cope with the milieu away from home. A study on the Bloemfontein Campus by the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics indicated that students experience considerable problems in managing their tasks, time, and finances. The challenge of reduced social support results in lengthy emotional and physical separation from family and friends, which influences standard eating patterns. The students have poor nutritional knowledge, limited earning potential, and a lack of budgeting skills and resources for healthy food preparation. Finally, sociocultural diversity is another factor to consider. It influences students' food patterns, while the total student population of the UFS, about 37 800 full-time students, reflects a rich sociocultural diversity. 

Intake of vegetables, fruit, and protein among students is minimal

When required to earn a degree, food insecurity represents a short period of time, but it can precipitate poor lifelong health behaviour and increased risks of chronic diseases. Prolonged exposure may contribute to the development of obesity. The research found food insecurity is related to poor mental health and academic performance. Students endorse increased rates of depression and anxiety, decreased concentration, and low concentration marks. It leads to lower academic achievement and undermines the goals of tertiary education. The importance of studying the aspects related to students' sustainable food consumption behaviour lies in the fact that, at this age, they begin to develop specific consumption patterns that will have long-term effects.

The average of current first-year students forms part of Generation Zoomers (ages 19-22 years). Generation Zoomers (Gen Z) grew up in specific circumstances, known as the first truly digital natives. They grew up living, working, and socialising with the internet and social media. This generation's economic circumstances are more constrained. The latter is partly due to the rise in university tuition fees. Gen Z forms part of diverse communities seen as networked young citizens, but growing social inequalities often limit their opportunities. This generation is labelled as the stay-at-home generation, with indoor and online socialising on the rise. 

During a study by the Department of Sustainable Food Systems and Development on the South Campus of the UFS (student population – ages 19-22 years), we found that the intake of vegetables, fruit, and protein among our students is minimal and will lead to deficiencies. At the same time, rice and pasta are part of their everyday diet. Money to buy these foods is still an immense problem. Students indicated that they would prefer healthy foods when they had the resources to afford it.

No Student Hungry initiative

Gender and student consumption patterns showed that breakfast consumption decreased, with male students consuming breakfast more regularly than females. The results indicated that students preferred soft drinks (energy) and water (available). They argued that the high consumption of fast food is due to its wide availability and accessibility in commercial and informal outlets. The informal vendors make fast food more available and accessible to low-budget student groups due to the lower food prices. The unhealthy consumption movement is driven by aggressive advertising practices and lower costs. 

Students consume more saturated fat snacks, refined carbohydrates, sweetened carbonated beverages, and diets that are short in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and fibres. Researchers indicated that these unhealthy diets and the increasingly sedentary lives of students could lead to non-communicable diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus and heart disease.

Currently, the department forms part of the NO STUDENT HUNGRY (NSH) initiative by establishing vegetable tunnels on campus. It remains an indispensable objective of the department, though, to increase the proportion of university students who receive information on unhealthy dietary patterns; however, nutrition knowledge has only moderate effects on students' attitudes and behaviours. Therefore, we use our Food Security modules as an effective strategy to educate our student community on sustainable food systems by ensuring skills development. Teaching contextual skills (e.g., how to plan and prepare nutritious meals within time and financial constraints) could address this unhealthy behaviour of the UFS students and work towards the sustainable development goal of NO HUNGER in 2030

News Archive

School of Medicine – heartbeat of the UFS
2015-06-24

Photo: Charl Devenish

During the past year, the School of Medicine at the University of the Free State celebrated several successes in the field of research and cooperation agreements. These successes allow the school to continue delivering world-class teaching to some of the country’s top students.

Earlier this year, a research team from the Department of Medical Microbiology under the guidance of Prof Felicity Burt, received a grant of R500 000 to conduct research on Congo fever (CCHF). Prof Burt is an internationally-recognised expert on Congo fever. The funding that has been awarded will be used to profile immune responses against CCHF viral proteins, and investigate mechanisms and strategies to enhance these immune responses. This study may contribute to the development of a vaccine against this deadly virus.

Prof Stephen Brown from the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health’s expertise and commitment to paediatric cardiology gained him the title of Bloemfonteiner of the Year. Under the leadership of Prof Brown, the department has performed many breakthrough operations and procedures. The most recent of these, was the first hybrid procedure in the country which was performed in November 2014. The department also has an ultramodern hybrid heart catheterisation suite.
 
Prof William Rae from the Department of Medical Physics focuses on medically-applied radiation. Together with his department, they are looking at quantitative radiation dosages. The research is particularly crucial for the successful treatment of cancers. Through this research, it is possible to ensure that patients receive the appropriate radiation dosages in order to obtain the desired effect without the patient being affected negatively.

Dr Nathanial Mofolo, Head of the Department of Family Medicine in the School of Medicine, is since 2006 involved at various levels of hospital management regarding quality assurance, patient safety, clinical and infection management, as well as administration. He is currently curator of internal medical students for four of the UFS’s teaching hospitals. His department is currently focusing on the National Health Plan, HIV and tuberculosis, teaching and learning, as well as service delivery in family medicine.
 
Prof Francis Smit manages the team that, to their knowledge, decellularised the first primate heart. The method has been applied successfully on rat and pig hearts by researchers in America. Recently the team also successfully cultivated beating heart cells ? those of a rat ? in their laboratories. The research is in line with what researchers in Europe and America are working on. In the long run, the research project aims to attempt ‘building’ a heart that could be used for the purposes of organ donation.

The UFS is also home to the only metabolic research unit in the country. The unit was established to focus research on obesity, type II diabetes, metabolic bone diseases and all related diseases. This includes diseases such as diabetes, cholesterol, cancer, psoriasis, lymphoedema, fatigue, high blood pressure, gout, arthritis, fibrosis, skin disorders, PMT, migraine, insomnia, gall and kidney stones and related infections, and obstructive sleep apnea. The unit is a joint initiative between the UFS and Christo Strydom Nutrition. Mr Christo Strydom, a nutritionist and world renowned in the treatment of lymphoedema, invested R5 million in the establishment of this unit at the UFS.  Christo Strydom is also the founder and owner of Christo Strydom Nutrition.

The School of Medicine at the University of the Free State is the only unit on the continent offering in-depth modules in clinical simulation. The Clinical Simulation Unit on the Bloemfontein Campus of the UFS, headed by Dr Mathys Labuschagne, is regarded as the flagship unit of the school and boasts high-technology equipment where students can practice their clinical skills before applying those skills in the real world.
 

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