DIETARY BEHAVIOUR IN SCHOOL GOING ADOLESCENTS IN GUNTUR

Background: Awareness of health and nutrition is not just significant in rural masses but also among school children i.e the antecedent adults or the so called adolescents where improper nutrition either over nutrition or under nutrition affects their civic education, physical as well as mental development in addition to a future risk of major health consequences. Aims: 1. To study and Monitor the spectrum of the nutritional status in adolescent population. 2. Provide periodical updates on underweight, overweight/obesity among adult populations. 3. To report the regional estimated number of underweight, overweight and obese adults. 4. To Identify vulnerable population groups (i.e. age, sex, geographical area). 5. To Assess the trends in nutrition transition (i.e. relationship between BMI and dietary patterns). 6. To Raise political awareness and commitment for action. Method: A Cross-sectional Prospective Questionnaire based Survey was conducted in the schools of Guntur. The study period is from January to June 2017. Nutritional and health status was assessed using a questionnaire. Results: A total no of 1515 adolescents of age 11-17years met our inclusion criteria, boys were 839(55.5%) and girls were 676(44.6%). From our data underweight were 87.81% , normal were 93.9% and obese were 11.46%. Conclusion: The present findings add to other results in the literature in suggesting that nutrition knowledge is an important target for health education.In order to promote healthy nutritional behaviours and prevent underweight, overweight and obesity, it is important to target this population with interventions concerning their eating habits and lifestyles.So it was concluded that there should be an immediate action to reduce the incidence through appropriate nutrition intervention programmes involving school children, their parents and school authorities. If immediate measures are not taken the condition can lead to serious problems beyond repair.