Aim To determine dietary habits of elementary school students in relation to a place of living and socio-economic status of the family. Methods A prospective study conducted in the Primary Health Center Zenica involved five family medicine teams in urban and five in rural settlement during 2015. Elementary school students aged 10-16 were interviewed by random selection using a questionnaire on the socio-economic status of parents and nutritional habits of adolescents. Results The survey involved 199 respondents, 103 from rural and 96 from urban area. There were significantly more pupils from employed parents who consumed non-carbonated drinks. Students from urban areas more likely consumed fruit every day than children from rural areas. More than half of the respondents did not or rarely consumed vegetables, in this case the village pupils, who consumed much less milk. It would be expected that rural students were more likely to consume fruits, vegetables and milk due to easier access to these foods in the countryside, but the results of this research did not confirm this assumption. Conclusion Changes in traditional family functioning (lower income, unemployment) could be linked with lifestyle changes (low consumption of fruits and vegetables, low consumption of milk both in rural and urban areas, consumption of carbonated drinks), especially in families in rural areas.

Aim To establish the presence of two risk factors, smoking and alcohol use, for non-communicable diseases among students at the University of Zenica. Methods The research was conducted at eight schools of the University of Zenica in the academic year 2016/2017 during the period from 1 December 2016 to 15 February 2017. The study involved 600 students 19-29 years of age (all years of study). The research was carried out with a standardized and validated questionnaire, the STEPS non-communicable Disease Risk Factors survey, developed by the World Health Organization. Results Tobacco was used by 145 (24.2%) students, 68 (46.9%) of them being males and 77 (53.1%) females (p<0.05). Males smoked 15.62 and females 13 cigarettes per day (p<0.05). On average, male participants were 16.56 years old, and female participants 16.71 when they started consuming cigarettes (p<0.05). A total of 289 (48.1%) students consumed alcohol, of whom 135 (70.2%) were males and 154 (37.7%) females (p<0.05). Conclusion There is evidence of high prevalence of smoking and alcohol usage as the risk factors for non-communicable diseases. Two levels of the prevention measures should be applied in order to reduce the prevalence of such risk factors: strategic level with a definition of the population, actors, activities, target population and anticipated results, and tactic level which will show contingency activities at the University.