Food consumption patterns of Nigerian adolescents and effect on body weight

Objective: Association between nutritional status of adolescents and food consumption pattern.

Design: Data on number of meals and snacks consumed daily were collected using structured questionnaires. Nutritional status was assessed as weight-for-age body mass index score less than fifth percentile of the National Center for Health Statistics/World Health Organization International Growth Reference.

Setting: Cross-sectional studies of adolescents using multistage random sampling procedure.

Participants: 401 adolescents from 32 secondary schools in Osun State, Nigeria.

Analysis: Frequency counts, percentages, and cross-tabulation analysis were used to analyze data, analysis of variance was used to test the differences, as well as chi-square analysis. Level of significance was taken at .05 and .01 levels.

Results: 66.1% of adolescents ate 3 meals daily; this percentage was higher among rural (75.4%) than urban (61.4%) children (P < .001). About 33.0% consumed snacks daily but to a varying degree, which was higher among urban than rural adolescents (P = .002). Prevalence of underweight was 20.1%, more common in rural (22.1%) than urban adolescents (18.7%). Underweight prevalence was highest among those who ate 3 meals and no snacks daily (28.6%) and least among those who ate 3 meals and snacks twice daily (15.9%).

Conclusion: Snacks are important in food consumption among adolescents; when snacks are consumed in addition to 3 meals, they will improve the nutritional status of adolescents.