Barchitta M, Maugeri A, Agrifoglio O, Favara G, La Mastra C, La Rosa M C, Magnano San Lio R, Agodi A
Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences and Advanced Technologies "GF Ingrassia", University of Catania, Catania, Italy.
Ann Ig. 2019 Mar-Apr;31(2 Supple 1):72-80. doi: 10.7416/ai.2019.2279.
Academic success in adolescence is a strong predictor of future wealth, productivity and health. While unhealthy dietary habits might be detrimental for academic outcomes, a positive association between healthy diet and school performance was found in adolescents worldwide.
A total of 213 adolescents (15 to 18 years old; 48% boys), attending three high schools in the urban area of Eastern Sicily, were enrolled in a cross-sectional study.
Dietary data and informations about weekly consumption of main meals were collected administering a Food Frequency Questionnaire. The Mediterranean Diet Score and Principal Component Analysis were used to identify a priori and a posteriori dietary patterns, respectively. School performance was assessed through school marks, using the previous year as reference.
The Mediterranean Diet Score was weakly but positively correlated with performance in Italian, Science and Physical Education (p-values < 0.05). Similarly, the adherence to the prudent dietary pattern weakly positively correlated with marks in Mathematics. In contrast, we demonstrated a weak but significant negative correlation between adherence to the western dietary pattern and the performance in several subjects. The energy dense dietary pattern was instead negatively correlated with mark in Italian. We also showed that adolescents regularly eating all main meals have a better performance in several subjects, when compared to those who skipped at least one meal.
The promotion of healthy diet in youth should be a priority for Public Health, in order to improve adolescents' quality of life and prevent negative health and social outcomes later in life.
青少年时期学业上的成功是未来财富、生产力和健康的有力预测指标。虽然不健康的饮食习惯可能对学业成绩不利，但全球范围内的青少年中发现健康饮食与学校表现之间存在正相关。
共有213名青少年（15至18岁；48%为男孩）参与了一项横断面研究，他们就读于西西里岛东部城市地区的三所高中。
通过发放食物频率问卷收集饮食数据以及关于每周主要餐食消费的信息。分别使用地中海饮食评分和主成分分析来确定先验和后验饮食模式。以过去一年为参考，通过学校成绩评估学业表现。
地中海饮食评分与意大利语、科学和体育成绩呈弱但正相关（p值<0.05）。同样，遵循谨慎饮食模式与数学成绩呈弱正相关。相反，我们发现遵循西方饮食模式与多个学科的成绩之间存在弱但显著的负相关。能量密集型饮食模式与意大利语成绩呈负相关。我们还表明，与至少跳过一餐的青少年相比，经常吃所有主餐的青少年在多个学科上表现更好。
促进青少年健康饮食应成为公共卫生的优先事项，以提高青少年的生活质量，并预防日后生活中出现的负面健康和社会后果。
