Dietary intake by adolescents from government and private school: A comparative assessment

Abstract

Study was carried out on two hundred school going adolescents, aged between thirteen and seventeen years. Dietary intake of all the subjects was recorded for three consecutive days by ‘24 Hour Recall Method’. Study revealed that the daily mean intake of cereals, pulses, green leafy vegetables, roots tubers, other vegetables, fruits, milk & milk products, fats & oils, and sugar & jaggery was significantly lower (p≤0.05) than the recommended RDIs values in the daily diet of both males and females of both the age group (13-15 years and 16-17 years) of government and private schools. Furthermore, there was significant (p≤0.05) difference between the daily mean dietary intake of government and private school adolescents. Except cereals, pulses, roots & tubers and sugar & jaggery the adequacy ratio was below 50 per cent for all food groups in majority of government school respondents. However, majority of private school respondents met the adequacy by 75 -99.9 per cent of all food groups except green leafy vegetables which was below 50 per cent. In order to improve the current dietary pattern of school going adolescents there is an urgent need of imparting focused nutrition education programmes among the school going youth and their parents.