ABSTRACT

Obesity is a complex global public health challenge, placing significant health and direct and indirect economic costs on individuals and healthcare systems and may be the result of many factors, some of which include nutritional intake, lack of physical activity, parental lifestyle/behaviors, or genetic factors. The study assessed the Dietary Pattern, Physical Activities and Anthropometric Status of Adolescents in Private and Public secondary schools in Ikwuano local government area, Abia state. The study adopted a cross-sectional study which includes adolescents in the study areas. Multistage sampling was used to select respondents who gave consent to participate in the study. A validated structured questionnaire was used to collect information on socio-economic, lifestyle patterns, dietary pattern, anthropometric Status, quantitative food frequency questionnaire which was analyzed using descriptive analysis and Pearson correlation was used to analyze the data using SPSS version 25. Result revealed that (62.0%) of the respondents were between the ages of 13-15 years old. Christianity is predominant (97.5%), and 48.0% of the fathers and 35.5% of the mothers were civil or public service roles with majority of them having attained tertiary education. This study shows that few (12.0%) of the adolescent school children were found to be stunted, while (85.5%) were normal. Based on the WHR, 51.5% of respondents are at low risk while 21.0% are at high risk and 27.5% are at normal. The study also revealed that majority of the respondents (38%) consumed rice weekly, (39.0%) consumed noodles weekly. There was a significant (r= 0.153, p= 0.032) relationship between father’s educational level and height for age of the children. The study also revealed that there was low consumption of fruits and vegetables, moderate consumption of animal protein and legumes, nuts and cereals while there was a high consumption of snacks, roots and tubers and fats and oil. Therefore, it is important to implement school-based programs to ensuring access to healthy food options and limiting the availability of unhealthy snacks