Nutritional Status, Dietary Intake, and Relevant Knowledge of Adolescent Girls in Rural Bangladesh

Abstract

This study estimated the levels and differentials in nutritional status and dietary intake and relevant knowledge of adolescent girls in rural Bangladesh using data from the Baseline Survey 2004 of the National Nutrition Programme. A stratified two-stage random cluster-sampling was used for selecting 4,993 unmarried adolescent girls aged 13–18 years in 708 rural clusters. Female interviewers visited girls at home to record their education, occupation, dietary knowledge, seven-day food-frequency, intake of iron and folic acid, morbidity, weight, and height. They inquired mothers about age of their daughters and possessions of durable assets to divide households into asset quintiles. Results revealed that 26% of the girls were thin, with body mass index (BMI)-for-age <15th percentile), 0.3% obese (BMI-for-age >95th percentile), and 32% stunted (height-for-age ≤2SD). Risks of being thin and stunted were higher if girls had general morbidity in the last fortnight and foul-smelling vaginal discharge than their peers. Consumptions of non-staple good-quality food items in the last week were less frequent and correlated well positively with the household asset quintile. Girls of the highest asset quintile ate fish/meat 2.1 (55%) days more and egg/milk two (91%) days more than the girls in the lowest asset quintile. The overall dietary knowledge was low. More than half could not name the main food sources of energy and protein, and 36% were not aware of the importance of taking extra nutrients during adolescence for growth spurt. The use of iron supplement was 21% in nutrition-intervention areas compared to 8% in non-intervention areas. Factors associated with the increased use of iron supplements were related to awareness of the girls about extra nutrients and their access to mass media and education. Community-based adolescent-friendly health and nutrition education and services and economic development may improve the overall health and nutritional knowledge and status of adolescents.

A Study of Impact of Nutrition on Targeted Height among Adolescent Girls

“…Then growth in stature continues for up to 7years.In undernourished populations, growth rate during adolescence is slower. 12 Using maximum growth spurt or menarche as an indicator, maturation may be delayed in malnourishedgirls by an average of two years. Maternal stunting is a factor of increased obstetric risk, and it can be attributed to chronic malnutrition.The intervention in our study showed a significant increase in height of both groups.…”

Designing a School based Health Education Program to Prevent Nutritional Anaemia among the Adolescent Girls in a Rural School in Bangladesh

“…Dietary knowledge and access to resources are critical in improving health and nutrition in a sustainable way. It has appeared that knowledge of nutrition among rural adolescent girls is poor and they are generally unaware of the need of consuming healthy quantities of foods such as fish, meat, eggs, milk, vegetables and fruits during pregnancy and lactation [10].…”

A systematic review of factors affecting energy intake of adolescent girls

“…Adolescence represents one of the critical transitions in the life span and is characterized by rapid physical growth and changes in body composition, physiology, and endocrine with profound biological, emotional, social, and cognitive changes 1 . During adolescence nutritional and energy needs are increased due to the increased growth rate and changes in body composition associated with puberty 2 .…”