Dietary Behavior, Body Mass Index and Level of Physical Activity amongst School Adolescents in Delhi: A Need for Life Skills-Based Education

Under-nutrition continues to be a major nutritional problem and obesity is on the rise amongst school children, particularly in the urban areas. F requent snacking and sedentary lifestyles have been implicated for this rise in obesity. This study was undertaken to assess dietary knowledge, attitude, behavior (including life skills) and level of physical activ ity among school adolescents of Delhi. A cross-sect ional study was done in a school of Central Delhi. Out of the t otal 360 students, 312 (86.7%) 9th-11th class schoo l adolescents were included in the study after consen t from their parents. A pre-designed, pre-tested, s emi- structured, self-administered questionnaire was use d to assess demographic information and dietary behavior. Physical activity was recorded and height and weight were measured using validated techniques. Data was analyzed using SPSS and Epi-info software package. The mean age of the adolescents was 15.49 ± 1.17 years. About 24% of adolescents were underweight, 5% overweight and 2% were found obese. Though the knowledge and attitude about healthy eating was good, but this was not being seen in their actual eating practices as 81% of adolescents preferred ea ting "junk food" as their favorite snack. 53% of th e subjects were missing their breakfast while 45.2% d id not take lunch at all. Most of the subjects espe cially girls (51%) did not take physical education classes . Majority of school adolescents were not practicin g healthy eating habits. The study highlighted the ne ed for an educational and behavior change intervention program such as life skills-based education to avoi d long-term health effects.