Physical Activity Levels And Junk Food Intake Among School Going Adolescents In A North Indian City

Authors

  • Sameena Ahmad Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • M Athar Ansari Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • Ali J Abedi Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • Salman Khalil Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • Uzma Eram Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • Najmul A Khan Government Medical College, Haldwani, Uttarakhand, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47203/IJCH.2023.v35i02.009

Keywords:

Adolescent, Diet, Junk Food, Physical Activity, School Going

Abstract

Introduction: Physical activity and diet go hand in hand for the maintenance of good health. This becomes even more important in school-going adolescent students as they are readily exposed to a wide variety of junk food items inside or around their school premises and lead increasingly sedentary lifestyles as they progress through their academics. Aim and Objective: Toassess the junk food intake and physical activity level among school-going adolescents.

Material and Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 800 school-based adolescents aged 12 to 14 years at AMU High Schools, Aligarh. Students were asked about their physical activity and dietary habits by disseminating a self-reported questionnaire. The data were analyzed in SPSS version 20.0.

Results: The majority of the adolescents had a moderate level of physical activity (53%), while 23% of the students had high and 24% had low physical activity levels. On the analysis of the students’ dietary habits, it was found that a staggering 70.75% of students had more than the recommended intake of junk food items. The association between physical activity and junk food intake was found to be significant.

Conclusion: More emphasis should be given to limiting junk food intake, increasing healthy food intake, and motivating the students to be more physically active. This can be done by encouraging the family as well as teachers at the school level and creating more spaces for children to be physically active at the community level.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Cunha, C.M.; Costa, P.R.F.; de Oliveira, L.P.M.; Queiroz, V.A.O.; Pitangueira, J.C.D.; Oliveira, A.M. Dietary patterns and cardiometabolic risk factors among adolescents: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Br. J. Nutr. 2018, 119, 859–879. [CrossRef]

Rocha, N.P.; Milagres, L.C.; Longo, G.Z.; Ribeiro, A.Q.; Novaes, J.F. Association between dietary pattern and cardiometabolic risk in children and adolescents: A systematic review. J. Pediatr. 2017, 93, 214–222. [CrossRef]

Poitras, V.J.; Gray, C.E.; Borghese, M.M.; Carson, V.; Chaput, J.P.; Janssen, I.; Katzmarzyk, P.T.; Pate, R.R.; Connor Gorber, S.; Kho, M.E.; et al. Systematic review of the relationships between objectively measured physical activity and health indicators in school-aged children and youth. Appl. Physiol. Nutr. Metab. 2016, 41, S197–S239. [CrossRef]

Sahoo, K.; Sahoo, B.; Choudhury, A.K.; Sofi, N.Y.; Kumar, R.; Bhadoria, A.S. Childhood obesity: Causes and consequences.

J. Family Med. Prim. Care 2015, 4, 187–192. [CrossRef]

Fleck A (2014). How Junk Food Affects Children, Demand Media, Hearst communication, Inc

Janssen I, Katzmarzyk PT, Boyce WF, Pickett W. The independent influence of physical inactivity and obesity on health complaints in 6th and 10th grade Canadian youth. J Physical Activity Health, 2004;1(4):331–43.

Strong WB, Malina RM, Blimkie CJ, Daniels SR, Dishman RK, Gutin B, et al. Evidence based physical activity for school-age youth. J Paediatrics. 2005;146(6):732-7.

Nelson MD, Gordon-Larsen P. Physical activity and sedentary behavior patternsare associated with selected adolescent health risk behaviours. Pediatrics, 2006;117:1281–90

World Health Organization. Global recommendations on physical activity for health. 2010.

Bohara SS, Thapa K, Bhatt LD, Dhami SS, Wagle S. Determinants of junk food consumption among adolescents in Pokhara Valley, Nepal. Frontiers in Nutrition. 2021 Apr 8;8:644650.

Nawab T, Khan Z, Khan IM, Ansari MA. Is small town India falling into the nutritional trap of metro cities? A study in school going adolescents. J Family Med Prim Care 2016; 5:581-6.

Indian Council of Medical Research.Dietary Guidelines For Indians-a Manual, National Institute Of Nutrition, Hyderabad, 2011

Crocker PR, Bailey DA, Faulkner RA, Kowalski KC, McGrath

R. Measuring general levels of physical activity: preliminary evidence for the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children. Medicine and science in sports and exercise 1997 Oct;29(10):1344-9.

Benítez?Porres J, López?Fernández I, Raya JF, ÁlvarezCarnero S, Alvero?Cruz JR, ÁlvarezCarnero E. Reliability and Validity of the PAQ?C Questionnaire to Assess Physical Activity in Children. Journal of School Health 2016 Sep;86(9):677-85.

Balaji SM et al. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2018 May;5(5):2094-2098.

Jurakic D, Pedisic Z. Prevalence of Insufficient Physical Activity in Children and Adolescents: Review. Paediatr Croat. 2012;56:321–6

World Health Organisation. Inequalities in young people’s health: Health behaviour in school aged children international report from the 2005/2006 survey. Copenhagen, Denmark: WHO regional office for Europe; 2008

Rani MA, Sathiyasekaran BWC. Behavioural Determinants for Obesity: A Cross-sectional Study among Urban Adolescents in India. J Prev Med Pub Health. 2013;46(4):192–200

Hussain M, Tenglikar PV. Nigudgi SR. Physical activity and its association with body mass index among 10-15 years school children in Kalaburagi city, Karnataka, India. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2016;3:2264-9.

Shylesh R, Suvetha K. A study on obesity and factors influencing physical activity among adolescents aged 11-15 years in urban school of Coimbatore. Asian Student Medical J. 2011;7:4.

Paudel R et al Awareness and Practice of Junk Foods .MJSBH Vol 20 Issue 2 Jul-Dec 2021.

Azeredo CM, de Rezende LF, Canella DS, Claro RM, Peres MF, do Carmo Luiz O, et al. Food environments in schools and in the immediate vicinity are associated with unhealthy food consumption among Brazilian adolescents. Prev Med. 2016; 88:73-9.

Ekanayake, U.L.N.S. and Wijesinghe, D.G.N.G. (2021). Junk Food Consumption, Physical Activity and Nutritional Status of Adolescent School Children: A Case Study in Ratnapura District of Sri Lanka. Tropical Agricultural Research, 32(1): 105-113

Sapkota SD, Neupane S. Childhood Poisoning, Junk Food Consumption Among Secondary Level Students, Chitwan. J Nepal PaediatrSoc 2017;37(2):147-152.

Joseph N, Nil M, Rai S, Y.P, R, Kotia S.M, Ghosh T & Singh

M. Fast Food Consumption Pattern and Its Association with Overweight Among High School Boys in Mangalore City of Southern India. J ClinDiag Res 2015;9(5):13-17

K. W. Bauer, N. I. Larson, M. C. Nelson, M. Story, and D. Neumark-Sztainer, “Socio-environmental, personal and behavioural predictors of fast-food intake among adolescents,” Public Health Nutrition, vol. 12, no. 10, pp. 1767–1774, 2009

Muhammad waqaruddinsheroze et al. Frequency of Junk Food and Depression in Children. International Journal of Innovative Research in Medical Science (IJIRMS) Volume 02 Issue 02 February 2017, ISSN No. – 2455-8737

Puwar T, Saxena D, Yasobant S, Savaliya S. Non-communicable diseases among school-going adolescents: A case study on prevalence of risk factors from Sabarkantha District of Gujarat, India. Indian Journal of Community Medicine: Official Publication of Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine 2018 Dec;43(Suppl 1):S33

Lahiri A, Chakraborty A, Dasgupta U, Roy AK, Bhattacharyya

K. Effect of dietary habit and physical activity on overnutrition of school-going adolescents: A longitudinal assessment in a rural block of West Bengal. Indian journal of public health 2019 Jul 1;63(3):171.

Chaput JP, Willumsen J, Bull F, Chou R, Ekelund U, Firth J, et al. WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour for children and adolescents aged 5–17 years: summary of the evidence. Int J BehavNutr Phys. 2020;17:141. https://doi. org/10.1186/s12966-020-01037-z

LeBlanc AG, Gunnell KE, Prince SA, Saunders TJ, Barnes JD, Chaput JP. The ubiquity of the screen: an overview of the risks and benefits of screen time in our modern world. Transl J ACSM. 2017;2(17):104–13. https://doi.org/1 0.1249/ TJX.0000000000000039.

Silva PVC, Costa Junior AL. Efeitos da atividadefísica para a saúde de crianças e adolescentes. PsicolArgum. 2011;29(64):41–50

Hayes G, Dowd KP, MacDonncha C, Donnelly AE. Tracking of physical activity and sedentary behavior from adolescence to young adulthood: a systematic literature review. J Adolesc Health. 2019;65(4):446 –54. https://doi. org/10.1016/j. jadohealth.2019.03.013.

Kassebaum NJ, Arora M, Barber RM, Bhutta ZA, Brown J, Carter A, et al. GBD 2015 DALYs and HALE collaborators. Global, regional, and national disabilityadjusted life-years (DALYs) for 315 diseases and injuries and healthy life expectancy (HALE), 1990–2015: a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2015.

Downloads

Published

2023-06-30

How to Cite

1.
Ahmad S, Ansari MA, Abedi AJ, Khalil S, Eram U, Khan NA. Physical Activity Levels And Junk Food Intake Among School Going Adolescents In A North Indian City. Indian J Community Health [Internet]. 2023 Jun. 30 [cited 2024 Dec. 4];35(2):182-6. Available from: https://iapsmupuk.org/journal/index.php/IJCH/article/view/2516

Issue

Section

Original Article

Dimensions Badge

Most read articles by the same author(s)