PREFERENCES OF VISITING FAST FOOD OUTLETS AND NUTRITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AMONG ADOLESCENTS IN RAWALPINDI CITY

Adolescents make up 21.14% of Pakistans population (WHO, 2017). However,the food choices of adolescents are making a vitalpart of theirhealth in the future. With the current increase in fast food consumption, it is necessary to determine the preferences that cause them to select fast food. Determining the level of nutritional knowledge among adolescents.Awareness related to its impact on their health was also an objective of the study. Objective: This study was designed to measure the various preferences for visiting fast food and general nutritional knowledge of adolescents in international fast food outlets of Rawalpindi city. Methods: A cross-sectional study was done in Rawalpindi city using a multistage random sampling method to select 330 respondents in the age group of 13 to 19 years selected conveniently. A data tool comprising a self-administered structured questionnaire was applied. The tool gathered Sociodemographic, Preference, and General Nutritional Knowledge data. Chi-square test was applied to determine the associations of the independent variable (Sociodemographic characteristics) with the two dependent variables (Preferences of fast food and General Nutritional Knowledge). Results: Overall, 66.2% of adolescents were visiting fast food outlets more than once per week. The primarypreference for visiting fast food outlets in adolescents was entertainment (49.4%) and convenience (43.9%). The distance of outlets and working status of parents were also important factors (59.9% and 60.1% respectively) their significant p-values were p-value = 0.021 and p-value =0.011respectively. However, General nutritional knowledge was poor (~52%). Financial stability determined by permanent housing and distance were significant with the knowledge their p-values were (p-value = 0.010 and p-value = 0.000 respectively) Conclusion: The study concluded that preferences behind fast food eating are entertainment and convenience which is linked with the working status of parents and outlet distance while those have permanent houses and again a close distance of outlets is linked with knowledge.It seems like financial stability can lead to better education and hence can be one of the factors of better overall general nutritional knowledge. However, there is no relationship between preferences and nutritional knowledge.