A Study On Food Habits Among Adolescent

Students In Bangalore

By
Shashanth Venkatesan
7C
Background And Objective

 Adolescents’ health habits are important determinants

of both their present and future health .
 To create a social awareness about the emerging
lifestyle trends and the way they are changing the food
habits using a qualitative research design.
Data Collection Method
 Data collection was done via a face-to-face interview
based on a structured, pre-tested questionnaire.
 The Dietary and Lifestyle survey was conducted
among the secondary and higher secondary school
students (Focus group) and their parents attending
different private schools in Bangalore urban area.
Importance of health

Health is not the Health is state of When people are This increases
‘absence of complete physical, healthy, they are productivity and
disease’ or mental and social more efficient at brings economic
‘physical fitness’. well-being. work. prosperity.
Lifestyle trends in the India

Raising
income

Ready-To-Eat Foods
Convenience
Food culture include frozen foods,
packaged foods have
Longer More seen a huge market
working working
hours mothers
Adverse Effects
 According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, by
2030
• Non-communicable diseases
67% like diabetes and cardiovascular
diseases.
Deaths
• overweight and obesity,

Health •
•
metabolic syndrome,
diabetes
Problems • a number of cancers .

 Improvement of the food habits of adolescents is therefore one

avenue to reduce the prevalence of these health problems.
Survey Result #1
The eating habits of the adolescent school children
Consuming atleast 3 times per week
Consuming lessthan 3 times per week

19 20
60 45 50 42 44
74 70 75 66 62 70
81 80
40 55 50 58 56
26 30 25 34 38 30
Interpretation Of Result #1
• Consumes soft drinks at least 3 times a week
50% • Chocolates and Chips are also being
consumed by almost the same amount of the
population.

70-80% • Consumes Green Vegetables, Dal, Fruits,

Vegetables and Milk at least 3 times a week.

80-90% • Accept that Green Vegetables, Dal, Milk,

Fruits and Vegetables are good for health

95% • Accept that Pizzas, Burgers and French

Fries are bad for their health.
Interpretation Of Result #1 cont..
• Parents and family were the most influential source of
information.
60%
• School education was also an important source of
information as agreed by of children
52%
• Media and friends were the source of information
respectively
20% and 10%
• Agreed that they bought or often buy food items on
seeing the advertisements.
65%
Factors Influencing The Eating Behavior
Physical Environment
• Availability and
accessibility of foods and
cooking supplies
• Appeal of foods
• Food prices
Social Environment Individual
• Parental control • Food preferences(taste)
• Social Support (friends • self-discipline
and family) • Values and beliefs
• Peer pressure • Stress , state of mind
• Media and advertisements • Body image
• Time and convenience
•Physical activity level

Adolesent
student's
Eating
Behaviour
Maximum Attention To Category For Food
Purchase
Easy to cook/convenience 20

Cost 23

Organic 18

Serving Size 10

Packaging 12

Information on ingredients 8

Information on calories 7

0 5 10 15 20 25
Parent's Food selection pattern
Conclusion:
 Overall, adolescents demonstrate unhealthy dietary patterns. Their
frequent consumption of energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods and sugar-
sweetened beverages and the omission of a variety of healthy foods
from their daily diets puts them at risk of developing chronic
degenerative diseases.
 In the light of the increasing prevalence of obesity and diet-related
diseases, actions should be taken to enable adolescents to eat more
healthily.
 The awareness level of consumers definitely has room for
improvement. Also – it is clear that consumers want more transparency
from food companies.
 It is also seen that consumers are open to different pricing and
packaging approaches which enable them to keep a tighter control over
their eating habits.
 There is also lack of clarity of terminologies; customer knowledge is
very important
Suggestions and Recommendations

 The three key things that might be considered are: tax

on unhealthy foods, subsidies for healthy food, and
promotion of healthy norms.
 Detailed and descriptive nutritional information on
product packaging is vital in gaining the consumer
trust.
 Necessity of developing nutritional interventions and
education strategies aiming promotion of healthy
eating habits in children is indispensable.
 Health Is Wealth

Thank You