ABSTRACT

Ultra-Processed Foods are packaged formulation resulting from several sequences of industrial processes, they are manufactured entirely from substance derived from foods and several additives used to imitate sensory properties of foods or to disguise unpalatable aspects of the final product. The diets of adolescents are of public health concern due to evidence risk for type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome and Cardio Vascular Disease (CVD). This study was carried out to assess the consumption of Ultra-Processed Food, dietary pattern and anthropometric status among adolescents (10-19) in Igbo Etiti Local Government Area, Enugu State. 440 adolescents were selected using a simple random sampling technique balloting without replacement from the 10 schools out of all the schools in the Local Government Area. A validated questionnaire was used to obtain information on adolescents’ data, socio-economic characteristic, Anthropometric measurements of the adolescents were taken to compare with WHO reference standard. Data obtained were subjected to statistical analysis using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0. The results showed that less than half (41.1%) of the respondents were of male gender while more than half (58.9%) of the respondents constituted female gender; About 42.0% of the respondents were within the age range of 10-15years while 58.0% were within 16-19years. The result also showed that more than half (50.7%) of the respondents have their education level in the Junior Classes while 49.3% of the respondents were in Senior classes. The result also showed that only (10.4%) of the respondents are of 1-6 household size while less than half (31.4%) are from 7-9 household size but majority (58.2%) of the respondents have household size above 10. The findings of the study shows that majority of the respondents rarely consume Ultra Processed Food which can be linked to their nutritional status because more than half of them