Consumo alimentar de triptofano e níveis de ansiedade em estudantes do curso de Nutrição de Maceió-AL

Abstract

Introduction: Anxiety has been increasingly prevalent in the world and especially in the university environment, being one of the main causes of physical, mental and social limitations, harming the academic life and quality of life of students. Its relationship with neurotransmitter dysfunction has been seen, especially serotonin, so that reduced levels of it can contribute to increased levels of anxiety and depression. Considering the possible benefits in controlling anxiety through tryptophan (the main precursor of serotonin), an essential amino acid; by investigating the relationship between tryptophan food consumption in association with different levels of anxiety in students, we can contribute to the knowledge of effective means for controlling it and support educational actions and strategies, of a preventive and health-promoting nature, appropriate and specific to the population of university students. Objective: To verify the consumption of foods rich in tryptophan and anxiety levels among undergraduate students in nutrition in the city of Maceió, Alagoas. Methodology: Cross-sectional study, conducted online, through a questionnaire on the Google Forms platform, available to students of the nutrition course in public and private higher education institutions in Maceió, AL. Socioeconomic, lifestyle, anthropometric and body perception data were obtained. Anxiety levels were classified using DASS-21 and the consumption of tryptophan-rich foods was obtained through a Food Frequency Questionnaire, being converted into consumption scores for statistical purposes. The database was constructed in Excel and the analyses performed using stata software version 14, being considered p<0.10 as indicative of marginal significance and p<0.05 for statistical significance. Findings: A total of 133 students were evaluated, mostly students from UFAL, with higher frequency of females (85.7%) and age between 18 and 24 years (70.67%), as well as physically active individuals (76.10%). Although considered eutrophic, according to BMI (about 60.2%), some students are considered inadequate on their body, so that 51.1% perceive themselves outside their ideal weight. It was noted that 56.4% of the sample presented some level of anxiety, 49.6% of them at moderate to extremely severe levels. From the analysis of food consumption, it was found that the students evaluated, in general, presented a higher consumption of foods rich in tryptophan (p<0.001), with a tendency towards higher consumption in students without anxiety (p=0.07). Conclusion: There were high percentages of anxiety, mainly between moderate to extremely severe levels among university students of the nutrition course in the city of Maceió, Alagoas, and there was also a marginal significance of anxiety levels with tryptophan consumption, evidencing a possible favorable relationship between food consumption of these foods for anxiety disorder.