A comparative study of the food habits of professionals in software and non-software Industry

The present study was conducted to study the food habits and dietary pattern of Software and non software professionals. One hundred Software and non software professionals were selected from Gurgaon towards the study. A group of 30 professionals were taken as control group, with similar age, educational qualification and having a minimum of 5 years of work experience. There was 50 percent representation of both males and females in control and experimental groups. Personal income of the IT and non IT respondents showed that majority had a monthly income in the range of Rs. 50000-100000 and the work duration of Software and non software professionals ranged from 8–12 hours, in some cases even above that. Food consumption pattern of the respondents indicated that most of the respondents were non vegetarians in both groups. Majority of the Software and non software professionals were meal skippers. Assessment of mean nutrient intake showed that among both groups, energy, protein and fat intake was well above RDA. There was significant correlation at 5% level between personal income and consumption of green leafy vegetables (r=0.3254), fruits and fruit juices (r = 0.`923), milk and milk products (r=0.2272) and savoury foods (0.246) at 1% level.