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Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol. 27, No. 1, 31-43 (2008)
Published by the American College of Nutrition

Eating Habits and Behaviors, Physical Activity, Nutritional and Food Safety Knowledge and Beliefs in an Adolescent Italian Population

Giovanna Turconi, PhD, Marianna Guarcello, MD, Laura Maccarini, PhD, Federica Cignoli, MD, Stefania Setti, MD, Rosella Bazzano and Carla Roggi

Department of Applied Health Sciences, Section of Human Nutrition and Dietetics (G.T., M.G., F.C., S.S., R.B., C.R.)
Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine (L.M.), Faculty of Medicine, University of Pavia, ITALY

Address correspondence to: Giovanna Turconi, Department of Health Sciences - Section of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, Via Bassi, 21 I-27100 Pavia, ITALY. E-mail: gturconi{at}unipv.it

Objective: The present study evaluates eating habits and behaviors, and nutritional and food safety knowledge of a group of Italian adolescents.

Design: A dietary questionnaire previously constructed and tested was self-administered during school time. Each section was evaluated using a separate score.

Setting: The study was carried out as a part of a nutritional surveillance project in the Aosta Valley Region, Northern Italy.

Subjects: Five hundred and thirty-two adolescent subjects, aged 15.4 ± 0.7 years, attending the second year of secondary schools participated in the study.

Measures: We evaluated eating habits, physical activity, meaning of healthy and unhealthy dietary habits and food, self-efficacy, barriers affecting healthy food choices, nutritional and food safety, weight, height, Body Mass Index (BMI).

Results: Only 37.0% of the sample have satisfactory eating habits; 18.5% have a very active lifestyle; only 8.6% have quite good nutritional knowledge, 2.4% have satisfactory food safety knowledge, although 43.7% have good hygiene practices.

Conclusions: The results point out unhealthy behaviors influencing adolescents’ eating habits and suggest which of these must be considered in order to develop tailored nutrition interventions, improving adolescents’ consciousness aimed at adopting a healthy lifestyle.

Key words: eating habits and behaviors, dietary questionnaire, educational programs, adolescents






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