Background: AdolescentÂ’s eating habits and weight status is a cumulative effect of the health and nutritional problems occurring during early childhood as well as those originating in adolescence.
Aims & Objective: To assess the eating habits among adolescents. To assess the body mass index of adolescents. To find the co-relation between eating habits and body mass index (BMI) of adolescents. To find the association between eating habits and body mass index (BMI) with selected demographic variables.
Materials and Methods: The research design adopted for the study was descriptive co-relation research design. The study was conducted in selected schools at Mangalore. The samples comprised of 150 adolescents of 14-15 years who were selected using purposive sampling technique. Demographic proforma, self-administered rating scale on eating habits and formula for assessing BMI were used to collect the data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were adopted to analyze the data.
Results: Majority (69.3%) of the adolescent had healthy eating habits and 30.7% were having unhealthy eating habits. As per the BMI assessment, it was found that 34% belonged to normal and underweight, 21.44% were obese and 10.66% were overweight. It was also found that there was no co-relation between BMI and eating habit (r= -0.085; p < 0.05).
Conclusion: In the present study, there are low prevalence of unhealthy eating habits, obesity and overweight. Samples are benefited with an information booklet on healthy eating habits. The samples that are underweight, overweight, and obese and also having unhealthy eating habits can be benefited by conducting nutrition and health awareness programmes.
Key words: Eating Habits; Body Mass Index (BMI); Adolescents
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