Nutritional status and food pattern of adolescents

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate anthropometric data, body composition and food intake of teenagers. Design/methodology/approach This paper involves a cross-sectional study with 132 teenagers aged 15 to 19 years old from a public school of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Anthropometric measurements, body composition, food intake and sport practice were obtained. The authors performed Student’s t-test, X2 or Fisher’s exact tests and Pearson’s correlation to evaluate anthropometric variables, nutritional status and sport practice. Findings Regarding the nutritional status, 81.8 per cent of the teenagers were of normal weight, 10.6 per cent were overweight and 7.6 per cent were obese. Female teenagers had higher values of body fat analyzed by skinfold thickness, fat mass, fat mass index and body fat percentage, while male had higher lean mass evaluated by fat-free mass and fat-free mass index. For both genders, it was observed that there was low intake of fruits and vegetables and daily intake of sweets, soda, salt snacks and fast food like sandwiches and pizza. Only 54.5 per cent of teenagers reported performing physical exercise and there was association between sedentary lifestyle with higher intake of sweets and soft drink. Originality/value This paper summarized several methods to assess nutritional status and body composition of teenagers.

Gaps in food security, food consumption and malnutrition in households residing along the baobab belt in Kenya

“…The general nutritional status of girls was better than that of boys. Previato and Behrens, 2018 also reported a high prevalence of malnutrition among boys than girls. This could be due to the fact that boys at this age are more physically active and that they tend to lose more of their body fat reserves than their counterparts.…”

Association between nutrient intake from vegetables and BMI category of in-school adolescents in urban and rural areas in Davao City, Philippines

“…Diet plays a crucial role in ensuring the optimum growth and development of the adolescent population. Inadequacies in food and nutrient intakes can lead to impaired bodily functions and a higher risk of acquiring chronic non-communicable diseases [ 12 ], as well as viral, helminthic, parasitic, and malarial infections, especially among those in developing countries [ 3 , 13 ]. In a relevant study, the nutrient intakes of Filipino adolescents were shown to be inadequate in energy, fat, and key micronutrients [ 6 ].…”

General and abdominal obesity is related to socioeconomic status and food choices: a cross-sectional study

“…Moreover, the effects of each single nutrient may be too small to be detected, while there may be significant links between dietary patterns and the risk of obesity (Salehi-Abargouei et al, 2016). Eating habits are crucial factors that affects the risk of obesity, as several studies have demonstrated the statistical links between obesity and the low consumption of fruits, vegetables and dairy products (Dastgiri et al, 2006a;Dastgiri et al, 2006b;Huang et al, 2011;Rautiainen et al, 2016;So et al, 2017;Previato and Behrens, 2018).…”