Dietary practices and physical activity among the school-going adolescents of Bishnupur district, Manipur

Abstract

Background: Adolescence is a period during which maximum physical, psychological, and behavioral changes take place. Dietary habits and lifestyle during adolescence are risk factors for several nutrition-related non-communicable diseases in adulthood. Objective: The objective is to assess the dietary practices and physical activity among the school-going adolescents of Bishnupur district. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the school students of standard VIII to X of Bishnupur District. A total of 840 students were selected using a multistage stratified cluster random sampling technique. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. The Chi-square test was used for the comparison of categorical variables. Student's t-test was used to compare the mean intakes of energy, protein, and fat. A P < 0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Results: Overall, the adolescents reported poor dietary intakes; around half (47.7%) of the students reported consumption of fast food on the previous day. Almost half (51.8%) of them had fast foods/junk foods 1–3 times a week. The study also found that 369 (43.9%) participants performed moderate to vigorous physical activity daily. Conclusion: The study found that a considerable proportion of adolescents was adopting unhealthy dietary practices and more than half of them were not engaged in physical activity daily. Hence, it is recommended that addressing these risk factors should be given the highest priority and various strategies of primordial, primary, and secondary prevention should be applied.