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An Assessment of Adolescent Eating Habits in Public Schools of Chak Shahzad, Islamabad

Received: 27 June 2016     Accepted: 7 July 2016     Published: 28 July 2016
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Abstract

Eating patterns influence the nutritional status, health, learning process and academic performance of the school children. This study was conducted to explore the food availability at school canteens and food intake by adolescents in break period. A cross sectional study was conducted on 290 adolescents (145 were girls and 145 boys) of 6th, 7th and 8th grade from public schools of Chak Shahzad, Islamabad. Pre-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Chi square / fisher exact test was done by using SPSS to check the association. The mean age of adolescents was 12.6 ± 1.33 years. They were reported normal, underweight, overweight and obese as 176 (60.7%), 79 (27.2%), 27 (9.3%) and 9 (2.8%) respectively. Nutritional status was significantly related with gender, age and grade of adolescents with p-value <0.05. Response showed that 199 (68.6%) adolescents prefer canteen food during break time, and 66 (22.8%) give preference to homemade lunch. Few of them 25 (8.6%) take fruits in school break time. About (24.8%) took drink with lunch which were juices 30 (10.3%), milk/milk shake 14 (5.9%), carbonated drinks 6 (2.1%), and tea/coffee 13 (4.5%). Consumption of carbohydrates, protein, fruits, vegetables, and dairy products was found as 64 (22.1%), 26 (0.9%), 32 (11%), 4 (1.4%) and 1 (0.3%) respectively in adolescents who brought their lunch from home. Around 49% of students were not satisfied with food provided on their school canteens. Availability of food items on school canteens and overall eating pattern of adolescents is not satisfactory. There is a need of school canteen guidelines/policy and nutritional education to canteen staff and pupils.

Published in International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences (Volume 5, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijnfs.20160504.21
Page(s) 304-309
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2016. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

School Canteen, Pakistan, Eating Habits, Adolescents

References
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[4] Story M, Stang J. Understanding adolescent eating behaviors. M, Story, & J, Stang (Eds) Guidelines for Adolescent Nutrition Services. 2005.
[5] Moreno LA, Rodriguez G, Fleta J, Bueno-Lozano M, Lazaro A, Bueno G. Trends of dietary habits in adolescents. Critical reviews in food science and nutrition. 2010; 50 (2): 106-12.
[6] Seliske L, Pickett W, Rosu A, Janssen I. The number and type of food retailers surrounding schools and their association with lunchtime eating behaviours in students. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2013; 10 (1): 19.
[7] Organization WH. Adolescent nutrition: a review of the situation in selected south-east Asian countries. SEA-NUT-163 New Delhi: WHO, Regional Office for South East Asia. 2006.
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[18] Zaborskis A, Lagunaite R, Busha R, Lubiene J. Trend in eating habits among Lithuanian school-aged children in context of social inequality: three cross-sectional surveys 2002, 2006 and 2010. BMC public health. 2012; 12 (1): 52.
[19] Ongan D, Inanc N, Cicek B. Comparing school lunch and canteen foods consumption of children in Kayseri, Turkey. Pakistan journal of medical sciences. 2014; 30 (3): 549.
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Fouzia Nadeem Gill, Abdul Majeed, Zubia Qureshi, Kauser Aftab Khan, Moazzam Ali Khan. (2016). An Assessment of Adolescent Eating Habits in Public Schools of Chak Shahzad, Islamabad. International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences, 5(4), 304-309. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnfs.20160504.21

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    ACS Style

    Fouzia Nadeem Gill; Abdul Majeed; Zubia Qureshi; Kauser Aftab Khan; Moazzam Ali Khan. An Assessment of Adolescent Eating Habits in Public Schools of Chak Shahzad, Islamabad. Int. J. Nutr. Food Sci. 2016, 5(4), 304-309. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnfs.20160504.21

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    AMA Style

    Fouzia Nadeem Gill, Abdul Majeed, Zubia Qureshi, Kauser Aftab Khan, Moazzam Ali Khan. An Assessment of Adolescent Eating Habits in Public Schools of Chak Shahzad, Islamabad. Int J Nutr Food Sci. 2016;5(4):304-309. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnfs.20160504.21

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijnfs.20160504.21,
      author = {Fouzia Nadeem Gill and Abdul Majeed and Zubia Qureshi and Kauser Aftab Khan and Moazzam Ali Khan},
      title = {An Assessment of Adolescent Eating Habits in Public Schools of Chak Shahzad, Islamabad},
      journal = {International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences},
      volume = {5},
      number = {4},
      pages = {304-309},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijnfs.20160504.21},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnfs.20160504.21},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijnfs.20160504.21},
      abstract = {Eating patterns influence the nutritional status, health, learning process and academic performance of the school children. This study was conducted to explore the food availability at school canteens and food intake by adolescents in break period. A cross sectional study was conducted on 290 adolescents (145 were girls and 145 boys) of 6th, 7th and 8th grade from public schools of Chak Shahzad, Islamabad. Pre-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Chi square / fisher exact test was done by using SPSS to check the association. The mean age of adolescents was 12.6 ± 1.33 years. They were reported normal, underweight, overweight and obese as 176 (60.7%), 79 (27.2%), 27 (9.3%) and 9 (2.8%) respectively. Nutritional status was significantly related with gender, age and grade of adolescents with p-value <0.05. Response showed that 199 (68.6%) adolescents prefer canteen food during break time, and 66 (22.8%) give preference to homemade lunch. Few of them 25 (8.6%) take fruits in school break time. About (24.8%) took drink with lunch which were juices 30 (10.3%), milk/milk shake 14 (5.9%), carbonated drinks 6 (2.1%), and tea/coffee 13 (4.5%). Consumption of carbohydrates, protein, fruits, vegetables, and dairy products was found as 64 (22.1%), 26 (0.9%), 32 (11%), 4 (1.4%) and 1 (0.3%) respectively in adolescents who brought their lunch from home. Around 49% of students were not satisfied with food provided on their school canteens. Availability of food items on school canteens and overall eating pattern of adolescents is not satisfactory. There is a need of school canteen guidelines/policy and nutritional education to canteen staff and pupils.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - An Assessment of Adolescent Eating Habits in Public Schools of Chak Shahzad, Islamabad
    AU  - Fouzia Nadeem Gill
    AU  - Abdul Majeed
    AU  - Zubia Qureshi
    AU  - Kauser Aftab Khan
    AU  - Moazzam Ali Khan
    Y1  - 2016/07/28
    PY  - 2016
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnfs.20160504.21
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijnfs.20160504.21
    T2  - International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences
    JF  - International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences
    JO  - International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences
    SP  - 304
    EP  - 309
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2327-2716
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnfs.20160504.21
    AB  - Eating patterns influence the nutritional status, health, learning process and academic performance of the school children. This study was conducted to explore the food availability at school canteens and food intake by adolescents in break period. A cross sectional study was conducted on 290 adolescents (145 were girls and 145 boys) of 6th, 7th and 8th grade from public schools of Chak Shahzad, Islamabad. Pre-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Chi square / fisher exact test was done by using SPSS to check the association. The mean age of adolescents was 12.6 ± 1.33 years. They were reported normal, underweight, overweight and obese as 176 (60.7%), 79 (27.2%), 27 (9.3%) and 9 (2.8%) respectively. Nutritional status was significantly related with gender, age and grade of adolescents with p-value <0.05. Response showed that 199 (68.6%) adolescents prefer canteen food during break time, and 66 (22.8%) give preference to homemade lunch. Few of them 25 (8.6%) take fruits in school break time. About (24.8%) took drink with lunch which were juices 30 (10.3%), milk/milk shake 14 (5.9%), carbonated drinks 6 (2.1%), and tea/coffee 13 (4.5%). Consumption of carbohydrates, protein, fruits, vegetables, and dairy products was found as 64 (22.1%), 26 (0.9%), 32 (11%), 4 (1.4%) and 1 (0.3%) respectively in adolescents who brought their lunch from home. Around 49% of students were not satisfied with food provided on their school canteens. Availability of food items on school canteens and overall eating pattern of adolescents is not satisfactory. There is a need of school canteen guidelines/policy and nutritional education to canteen staff and pupils.
    VL  - 5
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Health Services Academy, Islamabad, Pakistan

  • Health Services Academy, Islamabad, Pakistan

  • Apex Consulting, Islamabad, Pakistan

  • BHU Kothara, Gujranwala, Pakistan

  • Ghazi khan Medical College, Dera Ghazi Khan, Pakistan

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