Association between Dietary Habits and Nutritional Status among Female Adolescents

Abstract

Background: Adolescents with good eating habits are more likely than those with bad eating habits to learn normally and do better academically. Dietary habits refer to the long-term dietary patterns that an individual forms and maintains in his daily life.     

Objectives: The study aims to assess influence of dietary habits of adolescent girls on nutritional status and identify if their association between pattern of dietary habits and nutritional status among female adolescents.      

Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 400 students from middle and secondary schools in Karbala City, Iraq. Data were collected from December 2o, 2023 to February 4, 2024, Data collection was performed using self-report instrument and it is organized into three sections, include, dietary habits, nutritional status and sociodemographic data.  Data were analyzed utilizing descriptive and inferential statistics.                                                                                  

Results: That 61% of female adolescents have normal weight and 20.2% of female adolescents have underweight but 12% of them have overweight. Exhibits that female adolescent having moderate dietary habits as reported among 73% of them (M±SD= 11.96 ± 1.81.         

Conclusion: The eating habits of adolescent’s girls do not affect the nutritional status, and most of them have healthy eating habits, while about one fifth of them have unhealthy eating habits, and more than a third of them had an abnormal body mass. Which indicates the importance of involving them in healthy awareness programs about healthy nutrition and ways to maintain a normal level of body mass