Effects of the Dietary Habitson Late Adolescent Girl Students in a Government Aided Institution at Lucknow

Abstract

Adolescence is the period for rapid growth in human development. This period needssuperior nutrition, to have a healthy adult both physically and mentally. A nutritional survey was conducted to investigate the dietary habits, sedentary behavior and academic performanceof the girl students of Nari Shiksha Niketan - A government aided Institution at Lucknow. A total of 250 students of class9^th, 10^th, 11^th, 12^th and B.Sc. with the sample size of 50 students each of the age group 15- 19 were taken for the study. A pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect the information about breakfast,snacking, food intake frequency, sedentary habits, sleep deprivation, chronic illness, time spend on mobile phone, physical exercise and performance in exams.

Majority of the girls studying in the institution belong to lower socio-economic strata of the society. The statistical analysisindicates that there are no obese girls, 37.06% students have low BMI,19.19% are underweightwith unhealthy dietary habits. This results in approximately 70 % of the students suffering fromchronic illness with 50.9% of them constantlytired during school hours. Both stunting and weight for age or wasting arehighly significant (p-value<0.001).