Unhealthy eating habits and obesity among rural adolescents of Dharwad Taluka, Karnataka

The present investigations were carried out to assess the eating habits of 200 rural obese adolescents (115 girls and 85 boys) of 8 villages of Dharwad Taluk of Karnataka. The subjects were selected by purposive random sampling. A self-structured questionnaire was developed to elicit the information about obese adolescents on various aspects including general information and dietary intake. The results revealed that majority of the subjects belonged to 15–16 years of age (37.5%) and nuclear family setup (66.5%). Almost equal number of subjects had vegetarian and non-vegetarian food habits (40 and 41% respectively) and only 19 per cent were eggerian; majority of the adolescents had the habit of eating outside foods (91%); more girls (93.04%) consumed outside foods as compared to boys (88.23%); 65 per cent of the adolescents visited hotels frequently; about 49 per cent of them consumed roadside eatery once in a week; about two third of the subjects visited bakeries frequently (64%); all the adolescents consumed cereals daily (100%); 82.30 per cent of adolescents consumed pulses daily followed by weekly and fortnightly (13.99 and 3.71% respectively). Majority of subjects consumed green leafy vegetables, other vegetables and roots and tubers daily. Per cent adequacy of protein, fat and calcium was higher than the recommended dietery allowance (RDA) in case of girls (121.9, 102.4 and 107 respectively); per cent adequacy of nutrients viz iron, carotene, vitamime C, riboflavin, vitamine B₆ and niacin was lower than RDA among both boys and girls. The duration of the light activities were higher than moderate activities (21.10 vs 2.90 h respectively).