ABSTRACT

Nutritional knowledge has been shown to play an important role in healthy nutrition practices geared towards ensuring optimal health and nutritional status. The study was designed to assess the food consumption pattern, nutritional knowledge and practices of adults (20-45years) in Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State. A total number of 150 questionnaire was shared using simple random sampling technique, but 145 were retrieved. A structured questionnaire was used to elicit their nutrition knowledge, dietary pattern, socio-economic and anthropometric characteristics. Results on respondents socio-economic characteristics revealed that majority (72.4%) of the respondents were female while some of them (27.6%) were male. Also, more than half (58.6%) of the respondent were between the ages of 20-29 years, about 31.7% were between the age of 30-39 years. There were more singles (52.4%) than married (46.2%) respondents. Almost all (94.5%) of the respondent were Christians. Family size status revealed that the respondents’ household within the range of 3-5 persons were (39.3%) while 6-8 persons were (44.1%). More than half (57.2%) of the respondents had tertiary education, 21.4% had primary education, 21.4% had secondary education. Majority of the respondents were civil servants (28.3%), students (25.5%) and traders (22.1%). Most (31.7%) of the respondents received a monthly income of N40000 and above while few (3.4%) of them earned between of N16000- N21000. Majority (47.6%) of the respondents ate twice a day, 28.3% of the respondents ate thrice. Also 68.3% of the respondents skipped breakfast (28.3%), lunch (31.7%) and diner (5.5%).  Majority of the respondents skipped meals due to limited time (27.6%) and (25.5%) because they cannot afford it. Snacks eaten by most of the respondents were cucumber (28.3%), garden egg (27.6%), and egg roll (20.9%). Most (53.8%) of the respondents ate enough of each meal while 46.2% did not eat enough of each meal given that the food was not available or the meal unappetizing. Most (27.6%) of the respondents ate snacks once in two days, 19.3% ate snacks 3times a week, while 17.9% ate snacks daily. Majority (45.5%) of the respondent ate once in a restaurant daily. Also, most (37.2%) of the respondents ate twice at home in a day, while 32.4% ate thrice at home in a day. Rice and stew (10.3%), abacha (9.0), fufu and oha (8.3%), fufu and egusi (7.6%) and rice and vegetable (7.6%) were to be the favorite foods of the respondents. The result revealed that majority (69.7%) of the respondents prepared their yam by boiling, 18.6% prepared by frying while 11.7% prepared theirs through roasting. Frying method was the method of preparation of fish used by most (48.3%) of the respondents. It was observed that more than half (58.6%) of the respondents steamed their vegetables during preparation, 23.4% prepared their vegetables by boiling while 18.0% used their vegetable raw. BMI status showed that 2.1% of the respondents were underweight, 49.7% were normal, 37.9% were overweight while 10.3% were obese. It was observed that majority (70.3%) of the respondents had good nutrition knowledge, 19.3% had fair nutrition knowledge and 10.3% had poor nutrition knowledge. Results revealed that a significant difference existed between respondent knowledge of nutrition and daily frequency of eating at restaurants (X2= 28.32; P= 0.002) as well as between nutrition knowledge and type of snacks consumed (X2= 28.12; P= 0.01). Therefore, behavior centered on nutritional knowledge will improve the food consumption pattern of the respondents.