Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, PSGIMSR, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
Dean Medical Education and Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Believers Church Medical College and Hospital, Kuttapuzha, Thiruvalla, Kerala, India.
Indian J Public Health. 2019 Oct-Dec;63(4):293-297. doi: 10.4103/ijph.IJPH_420_18.
Adolescence is a period of transition where independence in thinking and behavior is established and food choices that are made are followed for several years, and this can influence their health in adulthood. Hence, understanding the eating habits are necessary to plan effective nutritional interventions in adolescents.
The main objective of the study is to find out the extent of malnutrition among rural adolescents as well as evaluate their eating habits against recommended dietary food groups and to compare eating habits across gender and age groups.
A cross-sectional study was done among 1425 adolescents from 13 rural schools from 2014 to 2015, and the variables considered in this study were age, sex, body mass index (BMI), and the eating habits of the adolescents.
Undernutrition was seen among 23% and overweight/obesity among 8% of adolescents. The habit of taking milk and milk products, fruits, and green leafy vegetables were very poor among the adolescents. Significant association was found between eating habits and BMI. Furthermore, late adolescents had better eating habits, and significant gender difference was seen in certain eating habits.
The study shows that it is possible to understand the gaps in eating habits of adolescents, and this can be used to plan tailor-made nutritional interventions to adolescent groups as their eating habits are different and have long-term nutritional and health implications.
青春期是一个思维和行为独立的过渡时期，在此期间形成的饮食习惯会持续数年，从而影响成年后的健康。因此，了解青少年的饮食习惯对于规划有效的营养干预措施至关重要。
本研究的主要目的是了解农村青少年的营养不良程度，评估他们的饮食习惯与推荐膳食食物组的符合程度，并比较不同性别和年龄组的饮食习惯。
本研究采用横断面研究设计，于 2014 年至 2015 年在 20 个农村学校的 1425 名青少年中进行，研究中考虑的变量包括年龄、性别、体重指数（BMI）和青少年的饮食习惯。
营养不良在 23%的青少年中存在，超重/肥胖在 8%的青少年中存在。青少年摄入牛奶和奶制品、水果和绿叶蔬菜的习惯非常差。饮食习惯与 BMI 之间存在显著关联。此外，晚期青少年的饮食习惯较好，某些饮食习惯存在显著的性别差异。
本研究表明，了解青少年饮食习惯中的差距是可行的，这可以用于为青少年群体制定定制化的营养干预措施，因为他们的饮食习惯不同，具有长期的营养和健康影响。
