Assessment of selected nutritional behaviours among college adolescents from Pomerania Province

Abstract

Background. Adequate nutrition is one of the most important environmental factor that determines the development of children and adolescents. Childhood, as well as puberty significantly take part in forming proper nutritional attitudes and behaviours. Objectives. Assessment of selected nutritional behaviors among college adolescents from Pomerania Province. Subjects were students of high schools, trade schools and technical institutes. Material and methods. In the study 198 students participated-121 girls and 77 boys. A study was conducted during school year 2012/2013. Nutritional behavior was assessed due to an anonymous questionnaire that concerned nutritional self-assessment of adolescents, their interests in healthy dietary patterns, amount and type of daily consumed foods, time of consumption of last meal of the day, snacking between main meals; frequency together with a quality of the snacks, and sources of dietary knowledge acquisition. Results. Data analysis showed that boys ate dinner and supper statistically significantly more frequently than girls. Gender also defined consumption of products from different food groups. Boys statistically significantly more often were choosing white bread, dumplings, pasta, milk, red meat, poultry and eggs. The amount of underweight girls was three times higher than underweight boys. Snacking was observed in 99.0% of the study group. Diet regimens were conducted statistically more often by girls (37.5%) than boys (6.3%). Conclusions. It has been shown that there are a number of abnormal nutritional behaviors in the study group. This indicates the need for their correction through the education of both young people, but also parents and legal guardians. It is recommended that workshops, youth training by nutritionists in the field of proper nutrition and eating behavior.

Diet Quality and Changes in Food Intake during the University Studies in Polish Female Young Adults: Linkages with Food Experiences from Childhood and Perceived Nutrition Concerns

“…The transition from adolescence to young adulthood may be associated with increased autonomy over food choices, small food budgets, and exposure to new social groups and food cultures [15]. Moreover, it may include leaving home [16], changing or leaving school to begin further education or paid employment [17,18], and formation of partner relationships, including marriage, leading to cohabitation [19].…”

Nutrition knowledge and willingness to seek nutritional counseling: analysis of data among a sample of university students

“…NK is considered to be the major element in promoting healthy eating habits and in lowering the risk of chronic diseases (Ali et al , 2020; Sakr et al , 2022a; Younes et al , 2022). Indeed, many findings have reported that NK may significantly assist the general population, including youth in adopting healthier eating habits such as nutritious snacks, better beverages choices and low saturated and trans-fat intake (Almansour et al , 2020; Clarke et al , 2022; Zaborowicz et al , 2016). Thus, NK ensures a healthy status and proper body weight among young populations (Cooke and Papadaki, 2014).…”

“…To illustrate more, Yahia, Brown et al (2016) studied the level of NK and its association with fat consumption among college students and suggested that the greater NK they have the less unhealthy fats and cholesterol they consume. Moreover, it was observed that health promoting behaviors such as not adding sugar to beverages and not adding salt to dishes were more common with a higher NK level among students (Zaborowicz et al , 2016).…”

Dietary Patterns, Nutritional Knowledge and Status of Adolescents in Lagos, Nigeria.

“…7 According to the Global School-Based Student Health Survey, about 4% of girls aged 13-15 years of age are underweight, although > 10% of surveyed girls are underweight in countries like Mauritius, Sudan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Cambodia and Vietnam. (8) In 2016, the mean BMI estimates for youths aged [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] in South Asia, South East Asia, East Africa, West Africa and Central Africa were < 20 kg/m 2 for both male and female adolescents. 7 The percentage of overweight adolescents has more than tripled since 1980, with 17% of adolescents between ages 12-19 being considered overweight.…”

“…Moreover, overweight increases the risk of Non-Communicable Chronic Diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, different kinds of disabilities and mortality, later in life. 13,14 Adolescence offers the last opportunity to intervene and recover growth that faltered in childhood and support growth spurt. 15 Adolescents have high nutritional needs but usually engage in risky habits such as unhealthy eating which affect their immediate health and have significant impact on their health in adulthood.…”