Dietary Pattern, Physical Activity And Anthropometric Status Of Adolescents (10-19 Years) In Secondary Schools In Umuahia South L.G.A Abia State Nigeria.:- Ugwoke, Sophia C

ABSTRACT Adolescence is a crucial phase of physical and psychological development, necessitating a focus on nutrition for lifelong health. This study evaluated the dietary pattern, physical activity and anthropometric status of adolescent students (10-19 years) in Umuahia South Local Government Area, Abia State. The study was a cross-sectional study. Utilizing a multi-stage sampling technique, socio-demographic/economic characteristics, dietary pattern, physical activity and anthropometric status were assessed through questionnaires and physical measurements. The data was analyzed with international business machine (IBM), statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. The findings revealed that a majority of respondents were between 10-14 years of age. All the respondents (100%) were Christians and only 3.58% ofthe respondents’ mothers earned N90, 000 and above and 6.37% ofrespondents parents were civil servants. The majority of the respondents (63.75) did their vigorous activity in the last seven days of the research. Only a few ofthe respondents (5.31%) skipped breakfast and some reasons for skipping meals include little time for preparation, ill health or disliking the food. Using WHO standard to calculate HAZ, BMIAZ AND WHR, the result showed that 5.38% were stunted and 15.5% of the respondents were overweight. In cross tabulation for anthropometric indices with gender WHR result showed that (3.9% and 15.93%) ofmale and female, respectively, were at high risk. There was no significant relationship between anthropometric status and physical activity level. The result of dietary diversity showed that 79.28% consumed 4-5 food groups, signifying medium dietary diversity. Food frequency result showed that about 48% the respondents consumed rice daily. In conclusion, majority ofthe students had good dietary pattern, as most ofthem ate 3 times daily and always had breakfast. The dietary pattern in turn also influenced their anthropometric status as a good number of them fell within the normal BMI-for-age category