In order to develop an obesity management program for teenagers, we compared obese and non-obese girls attending high schools in terms of their dietary practices related to snack consumption. Dietary records were collected for 7 days. No significant differences were found for the average daily energy intake between obese and non-obese girls. However, the highest energy intake was greater for obese girls while not much difference was found for the lowest amount of energy intake. Obese girls had significantly lower intakes in calcium (P < 0.01), vitamin A (P < 0.001) and folate (P < 0.01). Mean energy intake from snack (594.1 ± 312.1kcal) was significantly higher for obese girls than for non-obese girls (360.1 ± 173.1kcal) (P < 0.001). A significant, positive correlation was observed between energy intake from snack and total daily energy intake (r = 0.34 P < 0.01) only for obese girls. In case of dietary behaviors, obese adolescent girls consumed significantly greater number of items for snacks and fewer foods for regular meals compared to non-obese girls (P < 0.05). This study suggested that obesity management programs for adolescents should focus on providing strategies to reduce snack through enhancing balanced regular meals.

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Adolescence is the critical period of hormonal changes and rapid growth which demands balanced intake of nutrients. This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between obesity and dietary patterns in adolescent girls, mainly focusing on the impact of vegetable intake level on improving the quality of their diet. The subjects were 306 female high school students (normal 180, obese 126) from low income families. Dietary intakes were measured by 24‐hour recall method. We classified the subjects into high and low vegetable intake group from their vegetable intake data. The extent of dietary adequacy was evaluated by the estimated average requirement (EAR) and nutrient adequacy ratio (NAR). Food diversity was compared by dietary variety score (DVS). Average intake of Ca, Folate, vitamin C and riboflavin were below the level of EAR in all subjects. Higher risk of nutritional inadequacy was observed among obese girls compared to normal girls. Significantly higher intake of meat and fish group and higher DVS were observed for subjects with high vegetable intake. It appeared that adolescent female students with high vegetable intake had better dietary quality and nutritional status. These results suggest that acquiring sufficient intake of vegetables would be the most essential step in improving the nutritional adequacy of obese adolescent girls. Supported by KRF # ‐2007‐531‐C00065.