Food consumption patterns of adolescents aged 14–16 years in Kolkata, India

Abstract

BackgroundThe nutrition transition has brought about rapid changes in the structure of the Indian diet. The replacement of traditional home-cooked meals with ready-to-eat, processed foods has contributed to an increased risk of chronic diseases in urban Indians. Improving the nutrition of Indians by promoting healthy food consumption in early life and in adolescence would help to reduce these health risks. However, little is known about the quality and quantity of foods and beverages consumed by urban Indian adolescents. Therefore, the aim of this study was to describe the food consumption patterns in a sample of urban Indian adolescents.MethodsA self-administered, semi-quantitative, 59-item meal-based food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was developed to assess the dietary intake of adolescents over the previous day. A total of 1026 students (aged 14–16 years) attending private, English-speaking schools in Kolkata, India completed the survey.ResultsOverall, the adolescents reported poor dietary intakes; over one quarter (30%) reported no consumption of vegetables and 70% reported eating three or more servings of energy-dense snacks, on the previous day. Nearly half of the respondents (45%) did not consume any servings of fruits and 47% reported drinking three or more servings of energy-dense beverages. The mean consumption of food groups in serves/day varied from 0.88 (SD = 1.36) for pulses and legumes to 6.25 (SD = 7.22) for energy-dense snacks. In general, girls had more nutritious dietary intakes than boys.ConclusionsThe Indian adolescents reported poor food consumption patterns, and these findings highlight the need to design effective nutrition promotion strategies to encourage healthy eating in adolescence and targeting food supply and availability.

Importance of routine histopathological examination in appendectomy specimens

“…Among the cases studied, the gender predilection showed a male preponderance, with a male to female ratio of 1.7:1, which was closest to 1.8:1 seen in a study conducted by A J Omotoso [11]. This could be because of the fact stated in a study conducted by Neha Rathi that health consciousness is seen more among women than men and in addition to it the study also states that masculine ideologies and norms play a significant role in discouraging men from eating healthy [12]. Hence a low dietary fibre intake should have led to such increased appendicitis incidence in men than women in the present study.…”

Determinants of diet and physical activity in adolescents in Mysore, India: a qualitative study

“…This is in contrast to studies elsewhere in India. Adolescents in Baroda [12] and Kolkata [4] tended to choose fast foods and junk foods over homemade meals that include higher proportions of vegetables, fruits and bre. In general, Mysore adolescents' diet quality was not perceived to be poor either by themselves or their caregivers despite awareness of the trend, as suggested by others [17], that adolescents are consuming larger amounts of fast foods and at higher frequencies.…”

“…In general Indian lifestyle is shifting towards an 'obesogenic' pro le of decreased physical activity and increased calorie intake [2]. Recent research shows that Indian adolescents' food habits and choices are mainly driven by taste and palatability of food and by time factors associated with food intake [3,4], as is observed in Western populations [5]. Physical activity levels are known to decrease during adolescence, particularly in girls, and may be due to factors such as peer pressure and increased self-consciousness associated with exerting themselves [6,7].…”

Assessment of dietary pattern of school going adolescents in a metro city: a cross sectional study

“…11 Rathi et al in their study also reported that 40% study participants consumed green leafy vegetables regularly. 12 However, Ahmed et al, in their study conducted in school children of Pakistan observed that only 2-10% of study participants consumed green leafy vegetables on a regular basis, while 8-14% students consumed non-vegetarian diet and 22% consumed eggs. 13 Kotecha et al in their study observed that 13% of their study participants consumed non-vegetarian diet in last 24 hours.…”

“…11 Rathi et al in their study observed the percentage of adolescents who consumed meat regularly was 22%. 12 Intake of nonessential foods in excess quantities often leads to overnutrition. Among our study participants, we found that majority of students consumed fried food items, junk foods, and carbonated soft drinks very often and only 11% students responded that they consumed it rarely.…”