Eating behaviors of Pakistani adolescents: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Healthy eating patterns if adopted early in life support the growth, learning ability and overall health of children and adolescents. This age group is more vulnerable to nutritional deficiencies due to their inappropriate food choices, peer pressure, unhealthy eating habits and increased body’s nutritional demand. The aim of this study was to determine the degree of compliance of adolescents with the recommended dietary guidelines. A multi-stage stratified cluster sampling design was used to conduct qualitative research between January-August 2019 in public and private high schools of Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. A semi-structured questionnaire that focused on the general dietary intake and physical activity patterns in the school setting was filled by interview technique. The determinants of eating behaviors were investigated using descriptive statistics and chi-square. As per the BMI percentiles 46.2% (651) were underweight, 2.3% (33) were obese, and 6.2% (88) were overweight. The data indicated that no participant was eating according to the recommendations of the Food Guide Pyramid. However, on the scale of 10, family and advertisements have the highest impact on food choices of adolescents 6.5±2.69 and 6.1±2.77 respectively. Our findings concluded that adolescents do not follow a healthy eating pattern. Nutrition education and interventions must be prioritized to promote health among adolescents.

Keywords

• eating behaviors; adolescents; meal consumption habits; food knowledge