https://imcjms.com/public Ibrahim Medical College Journal of Medical Science https://imcjms.com/public/registration/journal_full_text/197 Thu, 20 Apr 2017 11:10:50 +0000 In Bangladesh, under-nutrition is a common health problem, but for socio-cultural background, it is most predominant among the female population starting from their early life to motherhood. For the adolescent girls, there has been no such study though they will be the future mothers. Therefore, this study is designed to address the lifestyle and nutrition of the Bangladeshi female adolescents. The study was conducted purposively in Dhaka selecting randomly 15 of 95 City corporation wards of Dhaka City. All adolescent girls aged 10–18 years were considered eligible participants of an urban population of Bangladesh. The study included socio-demographic information, clinical examination, dietary intake, physical activities and body mass index (BMI = weight in kg / height in m. sq.). Overall, 352 adolescent girls volunteered. Socio-economically, 51% of them had monthly family income ³ 20,000 BDT and 11.4% had <10,000 BDT. Of the participants, 14.8% had BMI <18.5, 80.7% had 18.5 – 24.9, and 4.6% had ³ 25. BMI was found not to have significant association with physical activities. No clinical signs of vitamin A deficiency were observed. On clinical examination 75% of the participants were found healthy, 15.9% had anemia and 5.7% had diarrhea. Compared with the national dietary intake, the cereal intake was lower but protein containing foods like pulse and nuts, meat, egg, fish, milk and milk products were found very much close to the national intake. On the average, 95 % of calorie, 93.5 % of protein and 96.5 % of fat requirement were met. For micronutrient requirement, very low intake was observed with calcium (62 %) and iron (63 %). In conclusion, the participants consumed rice daily with frequent consumption of vegetables. Although the study subjects were mostly from higher class of urban dwellers their dietary intake was found not healthy as evidenced by daily rice intake and very low intake of fruits, calcium and iron indicating lack of awareness regarding food habit. Further study is needed to confirm the study findings and to initiate health education on diet among the Bangladeshi adolescent girls. Ibrahim Med. Coll. J. 2010; 4(2): 78-82 Introduction   Study design A questionnaire was developed to obtain relevant information on socioeconomic status, dietary intake, history of illness and physical activity. All questions were designed and checked by field trial. The interviewer were trained for definition of data included in the questionnaire. Anthropometric assessment   A clinical examination was conducted to detect the clinical signs of vitamin A deficiency and nutritional anemia as well as to detect other health problems. Dietary assessment   The data was first checked, cleaned, and entered into the computer (using SPSS for Windows version 12.0) from the numerical codes on the form. The data was edited if there were any discrepancy found. The frequency distribution of the entire variables was checked by using SPSS for Windows version 12.0 program. After summarizing the collected data for each of the suggested indicators to answer the questions based on the objective of the study, analysis was preceded according to the plan. Results The results revealed that, 9.1% respondents had a monthly family income <10,000 BDT; 11.4% had income 10,000-15,000; 25.0% had income 15,001-20,000 and 51% had income >20,000.     The Body mass index was calculated as weight in kg / and height in meter square. The BMI revealed that 14.8% of the girls were underweight (BMI <18.5), 80.7% were within normal limits (BMI 18.5 – 24.99) and 4.6 were either overweight or obese (BMI ³ 25). The WHO classification was used for interpretation of the results (Fig. 1).   Physical activities in the form of exercise/ walking/ playing were found to have no significant association with BMI.   Fig. 2: Percent distribution of diseases of adolescent girls within last two months Table 2: Percent distribution of the respondents on the BMI and exercise time       Percentages of calorie and nutrient requirement fulfilled by the population are depicted in Table 4. The intakes of all macronutrients were less than the average requirement of Bangladeshi adolescent except carbohydrate. On the average the studied population fulfilled 95% of calorie, 93.5% of protein and 96.5% of their fat requirement. They also fulfilled almost 62%, 63%, 120%, 93%, 77%, 104%, 112.5% of their Ca, Fe, Vit A, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin and Vit C requirement respectively. Table 4: Mean calorie and nutrient intake (per capita per day) and percentage of the requirement by different socio-economic groups         The present study revealed that more than 70% girls were from a family from 4-5 members and more than 50% respondents had a total monthly family income of above 20,000 taka. This level of income is higher than any normal Bangladeshi family, which means these girls have better access to nutrients compared to any girl from low income family may be from a village. Three meals per day were taken by 90-95% of the girls i.e. of Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Girls were consuming rice as well as chapatti (wheat) but the frequency and quantity was low, so the overall consumption of cereals was 341 gm/per person/ day which is lower than the national consumption of cereals which was 452 gm/person/day. Protein intake was 43.0 gm/day/person, which was also less than the requirement of protein which was 46 gm/day/ person. Average pulses and nuts consumption was 11 gm/day/person which was higher than the national consumption of 10 gm/day/person. Average consumption of vegetables 87.9 gm/day, 5.2 gm/day of edible oil, and these figures are not better than the national consumption figures, which are 113 gm/day and 6.0gm/day respectively. No clinical signs of vitamin A deficiency were seen in the study population. Although this study shows a low prevalence rate of anemia but in reality anemia was recognized as the greatest nutritional problem among women as 52% of non-pregnant women suffer from Anemia (WHO, 1992). The present study reveals that the prevalence of anemia was 15.9%. The cause of anemia in the selected girls was low intake of iron foods as meat / meat products and green leafy vegetables. Meat intake was poor and only contributes to 10% of the total protein intake. Intake of protein in the girls was sufficient, but the major portion of the proteins was having low biological value. The main source of iron for the girls was from cereals (wheat & rice), but the iron in the cereal food groups is less bio-available to the body because of the high contents of inhibitors i.e. phytate and tannins. Conclusion   1.   World Health Organization. Young People’s Health-A Challenge for Society. Report of a WHO Study Group on Young People and Health for All by the Year 2000. Technical Report Series No. 731. Geneva: WHO, 1986. 3.   Mahan LK & Escott-Stump S. Krause’s Food, Nutrition, and Diet Therapy, 9th edn. Philadelphia: WB Saunders; 1996. 5.   Nutrition of Adolescent Girls Research Program. Research Report Series No.1-11. International Center for Research on Women 1994; Washington, DC. 7.   Bull NL. Studies of the dietary habits, food consumption and nutrient intakes of adolescents and young adults. World Rev. Nutr. Diet. 1988; 57: 24-74. 9.   Ali SMK, Pramanik MMA. Conversion factors and dietary calculations. Institute of Nutrition and Food Science, Dhaka, Bangladesh: University of Dhaka, 1991. 11.Gopalan C. Ramasastri BV, Balasubramanian SC. Nutritive Value of Indian Foods. National Institute of Nutrition, Hydrabad, India. Indian Council of Medical Research, 1993. 13.Physical Status: The Use and Interpretation of Anthropometry; WHO Technical Report Series (854), 1995; Geneva. 2026 Ibrahim Medical College. All rights reserved.