Bachelor of Science (Honours) Dietetics students, Wong Zhi Qi and Yap Shing Luo, were recently awarded certificates of excellence by Fraser & Neave, Limited (F&N), Singapore for their outstanding achievements in research projects. Both students were supervised by Faculty of Science academic Dr Tan Chin Xuan.

Wong, who also won the award for best oral presenter at the Student Conference in January Trimester 2024, said, “Sincere thanks to my supervisor for his guidance and the research team led by Mr Wong Tak Hiong, R&D director at F&N Global Marketing Pte Ltd, Singapore, for their support. I am also deeply thankful to F&N for awarding us the certificate of research excellence. This recognition has made me feel that my hard work has been acknowledged and all my efforts have paid off. It motivates me to continue striving for excellence in my academic pursuits and all aspects of life. Having this certificate inspires me to seize every opportunity, using this recognition as a stepping stone to achieve even greater accomplishments.”

She further explained, “My project focuses on investigating the effects of consuming caffeine-containing electrolyte drinks on the cognitive performance and mood index of students, using the Cognitive Test Battery and Profile of Mood States. I chose to do this project because I was more interested in joining an intervention study project, rather than an observational study, that focuses more on understanding an existing issue.”

For Yap, it was the research, titled “Effect of caffeine-containing electrolyte drink and non-caffeine-containing electrolyte drink on blood glucose, blood pressure, heart rate and urine profile of university student” that scored her the recognition from F&N. She expressed gratitude to Dr Tan for the support in conducting this research.

She enthused, “My project focuses on determining the differences in blood glucose, blood pressure, heart rate and urine profiles of students who consume electrolyte drinks with and without caffeine. I chose this project because, nowadays, many people are addicted to products containing caffeine, and there are numerous arguments about whether caffeine can increase blood glucose, blood pressure, heart rate and urine profile.”