English

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Even though childhood RAP (recurrent abdominal pain) is a worldwide problem, very few epidemiological studies had been done to correlate RAP with dietary habits. Our objective is to determine the dietary habits and prevalence of RAP in school children of village in periphery of Kanpur city. MATERIAL AND METHOD: In this cross-sectional study we select an aided school of a village in periphery of Kanpur city. Written consent was obtained from parents along with pretested semi structured parental questionnaire which were distributed in first week of July 2012 through school authorities and collected in similar fashion in last week of July 2012. RESULT: Frequent drinking of soft drink was 32.89% and 16.78% in children with RAP and without RAP respectively. Fruit intake was significantly low in our study in both groups (7.89% vs.10% in controls). Skipping of diet is an important factor in our study (18.42% vs. 9.10% in controls).no significant difference is seen on parameters of drinking tea, fast food/junk food intake and their bowel habits in this study. CONCLUSION: In this study prevalence of RAP was significantly associated with frequent drinking of soft drinks, students with high soft drink consumption reported low fruit intakes. Consumption of more healthful beverages, such as milk, curd or water, should be