Energy and Nutrient Uptake of School–going Adolescents in Upland and Riverine Region, Nigeria: Relationship with Body Dimensions

Abstract

Undernutrition among school-going adolescents is a prevalent public health concern. Inadequate energy and nutrient intakes has been reported among this age group, who are usually not targets of many intervention programs. The study assessed anthropometric parameters; energy and nutrient intakes of school-going adolescents aged 10 -19years, and compared the relationship between both variables within the three phases of adolescence. The study involved multistage random sampling of 418 school-going adolescents for anthropometry. A subsample of 40 respondents was used for a 3-day weighed food intake. Frequency, means, standard deviation, analysis of variance, and correlation were used to analyze the data obtained. Significance was accepted at p< 0.05. The study was made up of 226 male and 192 female adolescents within ages 10 – 19 years. Carbohydrate, calcium and zinc intakes contributed less than 100% of RNI for age and sex of subjects. Most of the subjects had normal BMI, however, the prevalence of thinness and underweight was 23.4% and 26.6% among the study subjects, respectively. Low fat store as defined by triceps skinfold (TSF) was 58.9% among the respondents, subscapula skinfold (SSF) indicated high fat stores in 41.1% of the respondents. Moderate and high health risks were detected among 23.9% and 19.2% of the respondents, respectively. Correlations were observed between energy intake with MUAC (r=0.417, p <0.01), protein intake with TSF (r = 0.358, p <0.05), fat intake with SSF (r = 0.324, p < 0.05), iron intake with TSF(r = 0.356, p <0.05), and iron intake with SSF (r = 0.322, p < 0.05) of the respondents. Inadequate nutrient intakes, thinness, underweight and health risk for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases were present among the respondents.