IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i8p3996-d533753.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluation of Eating Habits and Their Impact on Health among Adolescents and Young Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

Author

Listed:
  • Sylwia Mizia

    (Department of Organisation and Management, Faculty of Health Sciences, Wroclaw Medical University, 51-618 Wroclaw, Poland)

  • Anna Felińczak

    (Department of Organisation and Management, Faculty of Health Sciences, Wroclaw Medical University, 51-618 Wroclaw, Poland)

  • Dariusz Włodarek

    (Department of Dietetics, Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, 07-776 Warsaw, Poland)

  • Magdalena Syrkiewicz-Świtała

    (Department of Health Economics and Management, School of Public Health, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, 41-902 Bytom, Poland)

Abstract

According to the health field concept, the most important factor affecting health is a lifestyle. The current upward trend in overweight and obesity among younger populations is a consequence of inadequate lifestyle habits. The study aimed to characterise youth nutrition behaviour and knowledge in the context of the risk of developing overweight or obesity. The study group consisted of 307 high school students, 59% females and 41% males, aged between 15 and 19. Nutrition behaviours were studied using the standardised Questionnaire of Eating Behaviour. Body weight and body height were measured with a body composition analyser and a body height meter, respectively. It was observed that the average body mass index was 21.7 ± 3.4 kg/m 2 for the females and 22.3 ± 3.1 kg/m 2 for the males ( p = 0.036). Disturbed weight-to-height ratios (i.e., overweight and obesity) were found in 15.6% of the females and 16.5% of the males. The diets of approximately 90% of these youth were characterised by excessively low pro-health product content. The males showed a significantly higher intensity of adverse health traits compared to the females (8.1% vs. 0.7%, p = 0.002). More than half of the males presented insufficient knowledge about food and nutrition (53.5% vs. 30.8%, p < 0.001). Regardless of gender, the study showed a positive correlation between adolescents’ level of knowledge and the pro-health diet index (gamma coefficient: 0.42, p < 0.001) and a negative correlation between their level of knowledge and the unhealthy diet index (gamma coefficient: −0.66, p < 0.001). The level of knowledge was closely related to the indicators of the intensities and adverse health characteristics of their diets. These results indicate the need for educational programs to raise awareness among youth in civilisation backgrounds.

Suggested Citation

  • Sylwia Mizia & Anna Felińczak & Dariusz Włodarek & Magdalena Syrkiewicz-Świtała, 2021. "Evaluation of Eating Habits and Their Impact on Health among Adolescents and Young Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-16, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:8:p:3996-:d:533753
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/8/3996/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/8/3996/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ewa Błaszczyk-Bębenek & Beata Piórecka & Małgorzata Płonka & Izabela Chmiel & Paweł Jagielski & Katarzyna Tuleja & Małgorzata Schlegel-Zawadzka, 2019. "Risk Factors and Prevalence of Abdominal Obesity among Upper-Secondary Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-12, May.
    2. Neha Rathi & Lynn Riddell & Anthony Worsley, 2018. "Barriers to Nutrition Promotion in Private Secondary Schools in Kolkata, India: Perspectives of Parents and Teachers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-9, June.
    3. Paulose-Ram, R. & Burt, V. & Broitman, L. & Ahluwalia, N., 2017. "Overview of Asian American data collection, release, and analysis: National health and nutrition examination survey 2011-2018," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 107(6), pages 916-921.
    4. repec:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2017.303815_2 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Alison Gustafson & Stephanie Jilcott Pitts & Jordan McDonald & Hannah Ford & Paige Connelly & Rachel Gillespie & Emily Liu & Heather Bush & Candace Brancato & Toyin Babatande & Janet Mullins, 2017. "Direct Effects of the Home, School, and Consumer Food Environments on the Association between Food Purchasing Patterns and Dietary Intake among Rural Adolescents in Kentucky and North Carolina, 2017," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-12, October.
    6. Joanna Szczyrska & Agnieszka Jankowska & Michał Brzeziński & Marek Jankowski & Paulina Metelska & Agnieszka Szlagatys-Sidorkiewicz, 2020. "Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity in 6–7-Year-Old Children—A Result of 9-Year Analysis of Big City Population in Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-9, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Neha Rathi & Lynn Riddell & Anthony Worsley, 2018. "Parents’ and Teachers’ Views of Food Environments and Policies in Indian Private Secondary Schools," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-14, July.
    2. Viera Kupčová & Michaela Fedelešová & Jozef Bulas & Petra Kozmonová & Ladislav Turecký, 2019. "Overview of the Pathogenesis, Genetic, and Non-Invasive Clinical, Biochemical, and Scoring Methods in the Assessment of NAFLD," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-25, September.
    3. Katarzyna Dereń & Justyna Wyszyńska & Serhiy Nyankovskyy & Olena Nyankovska & Marta Yatsula & Edyta Łuszczki & Marek Sobolewski & Artur Mazur, 2021. "Secular Trends of Underweight, Overweight, and Obesity in Children and Adolescents from Ukraine," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-10, March.
    4. Yoshiko Sato & Masamitsu Miyanaga & Da-Hong Wang, 2020. "Psychosocial Determinants of Fruit and Vegetable Intake in Japanese Adolescents: A School-Based Study in Japan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-11, July.
    5. Grażyna Rowicka & Hanna Dyląg & Magdalena Chełchowska & Halina Weker & Jadwiga Ambroszkiewicz, 2020. "Serum Calprotectin and Chemerin Concentrations as Markers of Low-Grade Inflammation in Prepubertal Children with Obesity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-10, October.
    6. Md Towfiqul Alam & Sandra E. Echeverria & Melissa J. DuPont-Reyes & Elizabeth Vasquez & Rosenda Murillo & Tailisha Gonzalez & Fatima Rodriguez, 2021. "Educational Attainment and Prevalence of Cardiovascular Health (Life’s Simple 7) in Asian Americans," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-12, February.
    7. Petra María Pérez Alonso-Geta & M. Carmen Bellver Moreno, 2020. "Hygiene and Eating Healthy Habits and Practices in Spanish Families with Children Aged 6 to 14," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-11, November.
    8. Joanna Ratajczak & Elzbieta Petriczko, 2020. "The Predictors of Obesity among Urban Girls and Boys Aged 8–10 Years—A Cross-Sectional Study in North-Western Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-13, September.
    9. Marian Gil & Mariusz Rudy & Renata Stanisławczyk & Paulina Duma-Kocan & Jagoda Żurek, 2022. "Gender Differences in Eating Habits of Polish Young Adults Aged 20–26," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-15, November.
    10. Haeok Lee & Deogwoon Kim & Andrew Jung & Wonjeong Chae, 2022. "Ethnicity, Social, and Clinical Risk Factors to Tooth Loss among Older Adults in the U.S., NHANES 2011–2018," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-15, February.
    11. Cheong Kim & Francis Joseph Costello & Kun Chang Lee & Yuan Li & Chenyao Li, 2019. "Predicting Factors Affecting Adolescent Obesity Using General Bayesian Network and What-If Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-18, November.
    12. Soyang Kwon & Meme Wang-Schweig & Namratha R. Kandula, 2020. "Body Composition, Physical Activity, and Convenience Food Consumption among Asian American Youth: 2011–2018 NHANES," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-13, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:8:p:3996-:d:533753. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.