el Don /SANTA ANA COLLEGE • MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014/eldonnews.org
HEALTH
EATING HABITS
el Don /SANTA ANA COLLEGE • MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014/eldonnews.org
GRAB A CUP
OF SODIUM
12
With college students on a
tight budget, opting for ramen
noodles as a quick and cheap
meal could come at the expense
of their health.
Consumption of the famous
three-minute snacks can lead to
metabolic syndrome, which is a
cluster of factors such as abdominal obesity, raised blood pressure
and insulin resistance, according
to the American Heart Association.
The nutrition facts for one package of shrimp ramen list that in a
half block of noodles, saturated fat
accounts for 18 percent, sodium
for 33 percent and carbohydrates
for 26 percent. These ingredients
contributing to a majority of its
nutritional value is not good news
for a person’s health.
The reality of long-term health
effects may not be a priority for
college students. Being budget
friendly, however, seems to outweigh ramen’s lack of nutritional
importance. / JASMINE WILLIAMS
TOSSED / Partners choose not to use condoms because of mutual trust in each other’s sexual history, accoring to Durex. / DANIEL LIM / el Don
NO GLOVE, STILL LOVE
Millenials use birth control but are less wary of sexually transmitted diseases
BY AMANDA ZIVE / el Don
Condom use among young people
declines as they go through college,
coinciding with a rise in sexual activity, according to a new study done by
the Oxford Journal.
The lack of condom usage among
students is due to lack of education
about contraceptives, possibly starting at the high school level. According
to some reports, many schools are no
longer informing students about how
to obtain condoms.
Students provided with a typical
health class are more likely to use
birth control, but this type of education does not affect how likely they
are to use condoms, a study at Colorado Mesa University by Steven R.
Murray and Jessica L. Miller found.
The conclusion was that student
motivations dictate what they consider to be safe sex, and they often forget
all the risks involved.
This may be due to the emphasis
on unwanted pregnancies made by
focusing on abstinence over
contraception methods.
Societal pressures from friends and
family and how the media portrays
pregnancies on shows like Teen Mom
can make teens worry about having
babies but not other issues.
“It is troubling that a higher percentage of students is not choosing
to use condoms to prevent STDs; it
seems that more students are concerned with preventing pregnancy
than the spreading of STDs,” Miller
and Murray wrote.
Safe sex doesn’t just mean preventing pregnancy, the study says.
That kind of emphasis is necessary
in the battle against STDs.
Since 1992 the instances of chlamydia for Americans have nearly
doubled. Although chlamydia is not
life threatening, it can affect a woman’s ability to get pregnant later, and
usually goes undiagnosed and
untreated because of the lack of obvious symptoms.
One reason students don’t use condoms may be because they feel like
they know their partner well enough,
said Santa Ana College Health Educator Christina Duong.
“When having sexual intercourse
with people from their own school,
because they are peers, and the
thought is ‘Oh, they go to my school,
they’re like me, we have things in
common, so it must be OK,’”
Duong said.
The most popular response for not
using a condom is confidence in a
partner’s sexual history, according
to a study conducted by the Durex
condom brand. But the Center for
Disease Control reports many STDs
go undetected by the carrier.
Despite a rise in STDs, there are
ways for students to overcome this
troubling trend. Individuals should
take responsibility for their own sexual health by protecting themselves
and their partners.
“All parties involved are equally
responsible for condom usage and
practicing safe sex,” Duong cautioned.
“Sexually active women can carry
condoms in their purse for when the
oc