Browsing by Subject "24-hour dietary recall"

A healthy and balanced diet is essential for healthy growth and nutrition during childhood and youth has permanent and long-term effects for an individual’s health status. However, in contrast to other Nordic countries and most other European countries, there is no national data on adolescents’ food consumption and nutrient intake available in Finland. The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare conducted a pilot study on nutrition monitoring in adolescents during Autumn 2021. The study was conducted altogether in six schools in Helsinki and Tampere and the study group consisted of 110 ninth graders. The data on the adolescents’ food consumption and nutrient intake was collected with two 24-h dietary recalls. The first recall was conducted face to face and the second by phone. Based on this pilot study, the goal is to develop a national study protocol for examining the food consumption and nutrient intake of 12-18-year-old adolescents. The aim of this master’s thesis is to find out if the study protocol of the pilot study is suitable for a larger national study. In addition, the aim is to find out how was the food consumption and nutrient intake of the ninth graders from Helsinki and Tampere who participated in the study. The statistical tests and graphs were made using IBM SPSS Statistics 29 -software and Microsoft Excel - program. Non-parametric Mann-Whitney U -test was used to compare groups. The participation rate of the study was good. 73% of the invited adolescents participated in the first recall, from which 98% participated also in the second recall. Based on the results of this pilot study, 24-h dietary recalls conducted face to face and by phone are a practical and reliable study method when examining adolescents’ food consumption and nutrient intake. Adolescents’ mean intake of vegetables, fruits, berries, and dietary fibre was below the recommended amount, while the mean intake of salt and saturated fatty acids exceeded the recommended level. Based on the results, the study protocol is suitable for a larger national study. A national study is needed to better understand adolescents’ food consumption and nutrient intake from the point of view of health and environmental sustainability, and to see if there are differences by region, age, or sociodemographic factors. In addition, the national study would help to improve adolescents’ health and to prevent, for example, overweight, obesity and chronic diseases.