Abstract
Background: Recognition of the dominant dietary behaviors with respect to gender and specific age groups can be helpful in the development of targeted and effective nutritional education. The purpose of the study was to analyze the prevalence of the selected eating behaviors (favorable: Consuming breakfasts, fruit, vegetables, milk and milk beverages, whole grain bread and fish; adverse: Regular consumption of sweets, sugared soft drinks and fast-foods) among Polish adolescents. Methods: Data on the nutritional behaviors were collected using a questionnaire. Body mass status was assessed based on weight and height measurements. Results: 14,044 students aged 13–19 years old from 207 schools participated in the study. Significant differences were found in the nutritional behaviors depending on age, gender and nutritional status. Favorable nutritional behaviors corresponded with each other, the same relationship was observed for adverse behaviors. The frequency of the majority of healthy eating behaviors decreased with age, whereas the incidence of adverse dietary behaviors increased with age. Underweight adolescents more often consumed sugared soft drinks, sweets and fast food compared to their peers with normal and excessive body mass. Conclusions: A significant proportion of adolescents showed unhealthy nutritional behaviors. Showing changes in the incidence of nutritional behaviors depending on age, gender and body weight status, we provide data that can inform the development of dietary interventions tailored to promote specific food groups among adolescents on different stages of development to improve their diet quality.
Highlights
The health of children and adolescents is dependent upon food intake that provides sufficient energy and nutrients to promote optimal physical, cognitive and social growth and development [1,2,3].in practice, the implementation of proper nutrition recommendations in these population groups is extremely difficult due to the existing barriers, e.g., availability of healthy food, inadequate nutritional knowledge of caregivers and children and personal food preferences [4,5,6,7]
Showing changes in the incidence of nutritional behaviors depending on age, gender and body weight status, we provide data that can inform the development of dietary interventions tailored to promote specific food groups among adolescents on different stages of development to improve their diet quality
By analyzing the differences in nutritional behaviors between age and gender groups, we provide data that can inform the development of dietary interventions tailored to answer the needs of adolescents at different stage of development and to improve the quality of their diet
Summary
The health of children and adolescents is dependent upon food intake that provides sufficient energy and nutrients to promote optimal physical, cognitive and social growth and development [1,2,3].in practice, the implementation of proper nutrition recommendations in these population groups is extremely difficult due to the existing barriers, e.g., availability of healthy food, inadequate nutritional knowledge of caregivers and children and personal food preferences [4,5,6,7]. Almost 35% of schoolchildren and adolescents aged 9–13 years from rural parts of Poland regularly ate sweets, and 46% failed to consume vegetables and fruit at least once a day [9]. These inadequacies in the assortment and quantities of food products. The purpose of the study was to analyze the prevalence of the selected eating behaviors (favorable: Consuming breakfasts, fruit, vegetables, milk and milk beverages, whole grain bread and fish; adverse: Regular consumption of sweets, sugared soft drinks and fast-foods) among Polish adolescents. Favorable nutritional behaviors corresponded with each other, the same relationship was observed for adverse behaviors
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