BACKGROUND Knowing the medical Professionals' knowledge, attitude and practices of nutritional and lifestyle habits helps to enhance the nutrition of the community, which will consequently lead to a healthier society, as they will constitute the main body of future health promoters. OBJECTIVE We aimed to evaluate their nutrition knowledge, their eating habits, physical activity and overall perception regarding importance of healthy eating habits and regular physical activity of medical professionals of Sree Mookambika Institute of Medical Sciences, Kulasekharam. METHODOLOGY A cross-sectional study included 82 medical professionals between ages 23-30 years from medicals of medical college. A self-reported questionnaire was employed to assess perceived attitude and barriers to healthy practices by the study participants. RESULTS Among the 82 medical professionals of this study 57.3% (n=47) had good knowledge and 42.7% (n=35) had poor knowledge on lifestyle diseases (figure 1), 59.8% (n=49) had positive attitude and 40.2% (n=33) had negative attitude towards lifestyle diseases(figure 2).548.8%(n=40) showed good practice and 51.2% (n=42) shows poor practice towards lifestyle diseases. CONCLUSION Overall most medical professionals were aware of the importance of healthy eating habits and regular physical activity yet they were not practicing it adequately in their daily life. Improving nutrition knowledge, attitude and dietary practices through nutritional education and motivation for regular physical exercise may help to prevent many lifestyle diseases.

Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, lifestyle diseases, medical professionals