Eating Patterns of school children and adolescents in Kuala Lumpur

Moy, Foong Ming and Gan, Chong Ying and Mohd Kassim, Siti Zaleha (2006) Eating Patterns of school children and adolescents in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysian Journal of Nutrition, 12 (1). pp. 1-10. ISSN 1394-035X,

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Abstract

Eating patterns such as eating frequency, skipping of breakfast, and frequency of meals eaten away from home might influence school-going children's nutri- tional status, which will then influence their health and academic performance. This article reports the findings of a survey on the eating patterns of the school children and adolescents in Kuala Lumpur. A total of 3620 school children studying in Primary 5, Secondary 2 and Secondary 4 were selected using multi-stage sampling. The students were surveyed using a pre-tested questionnaire while their weights and heights were measured in the field. It was found that 19.9 skipped at least one meal a day with the youngest group having the lowest prevalence. The most frequently missed meal is breakfast (12.6) followed by lunch (6.7) and dinner (4.4). The school is an important provider of breakfast and lunch for the students. As the students' age increased, the prevalence of eating breakfast and lunch in school increased. The youngest age group had the highest prevalence of snacking and taking of nutritional supplements (p<0.05). Fast food and local hawker food were also consumed by about 60-70 of the students. Logistic regression analysis showed that skipping of breakfast is significantly associated with age, sex, BMI and taking of nutritional supplements. Promotion of healthy eating should be targeted at students in primary and secondary schools as they tend to depend on outside food.

Item Type: Article
Funders: UNSPECIFIED
Additional Information: Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Building, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA
Uncontrolled Keywords: Eating Patterns
Subjects: R Medicine
Divisions: Faculty of Medicine
Depositing User: Ms Haslinda Lahuddin
Date Deposited: 16 Jan 2013 01:55
Last Modified: 15 Jan 2021 08:07
URI: http://eprints.um.edu.my/id/eprint/4532

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