Changes of food habits in school-aged children and adolescents

Abstract

The aim of this study is to compare the food pattern of students who attend different school grades. The sample consisted of 529 adolescents with 13.32(±1.59) years, from a Portuguese public school. Obesity was calculated using BMI. A questionnaire was applied to collect information on the food pattern. The chi-square test was used to compare the two groups. The overall prevalence of overweight + obesity was 22.8%. The group that attended 5^th and 6^th grades present a higher prevalence of overweight +obesity in (27.9% versus 18.9%, p=.015). Older students skip more meals (breakfast p=.000, lunch p=.009, dinner p=.015), drink more soft drinks (p=.046) and alcoholic drinks (p=.001). Consumption of sweets, fruit, vegetables and milk, are no statistically significant differences between grades. In conclusion, there is a deterioration of an unhealthy food pattern in the passage from the 5^th and 6^th grades to the 7^th, 8^th and 9^th grades.