Dietary habits and effect of two different educational tools on nutrition knowledge of school going adolescent girls in Hyderabad, India

Objectives: To assess dietary habits and nutrition knowledge levels of the adolescent girls from different schools and to study the efficacy of two different nutrition education tools in improving their nutrition knowledge in the classroom setting. Design: Purposive sampling technique was adapted for selecting the subjects in the study. Setting: Four secondary schools in Hyderabad, India. Subjects: In total, 164 adolescent girls belonging to eighth grade. Interventions: Two interventions ( Intervention-1. Traditional method using print media such as folders leaflets and charts; Intervetion-2. Audio-visual CD) were carried out in a classroom setting for the experimental group. Results: FFQ data on dietary consumption of adolescent girls revealed more consumption of aerated drinks, bakery items, fast foods and less consumption of millets irrespective of their socio-economic conditions. However, consumption of vegetables, green leafy vegetables and fruits was moderate. A significant improvement in the nutrition related knowledge was observed among the experimental group after interventions-1 and -2 as compared to the baseline data. However, no significant difference in the improvement of nutrition knowledge levels was observed with the second intervention over the first intervention as already the children in the experimental group gained knowledge through print media. Conclusions: Education on ill effects of aerated drinks, fast foods and the importance of nutrition during the adolescent phase should be emphasized in future programmes. Sponsorship: The study was supported by the National Institute of Nutrition ( Indian Council of Medical Research), Hyderabad from the intramural funds.