Fruit and vegetables consumption among school-going adolescents: Findings from the baseline survey of an intervention program in a semi-urban area of Dhaka, Bangladesh

• Published in: PloS one 2021-06, Vol.16 (6), p.e0252297
• Main Authors: Salwa, Marium, Subaita, Fatima, Choudhury, Sohel Reza, Khalequzzaman, Md, Al Mamun, Mohammad Abdullah, Bhuiyan, Mahfuzur Rahman, Haque, M. Atiqul
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescents; Aging; Behavior; Biology and Life Sciences; Carbonates; Carbonation; Child development; Data collection; Diet; Dietary intake; Epidemiology; Exercise; Food; Food and nutrition; Food habits; Food processing; Fruit; Fruits; Health aspects; Health care; Health promotion; Hospitals; Informatics; Intervention; Lipids; Medicine and Health Sciences; People and Places; Polls & surveys; Principal components analysis; Processed foods; Public health; Questionnaires; Social behavior; Social interactions; Social support; Students; Teenagers; Urban areas; Variables; Vegetables; Youth
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0252297

The baseline data from an intervention study involving 823 grade ten students from two randomly selected secondary schools in a semi-urban area of Dhaka were analyzed. The intake of fruit and vegetables was measured in terms of serving size per day. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to assess the ability of socio-environmental factors such as social support, perceived barriers, and living with patient with chronic diseases; personal factors such as knowledge, self-rated practice, behavioral intention, and body mass index; and behavioral factors such as physical activity, sedentary hours, and sleep duration to predict the level of daily fruit and vegetables intake, after controlling the effect of demographic characteristics of adolescents. The average daily consumption of fruit and vegetables was 1.22 and 1.99 servings, respectively. Only one-fifth of the respondents (21%) reported eating five servings of fruit and vegetables a day. Inaccessibility at home was reported as the most perceived barrier for both fruit and vegetables intake. Adolescents' higher fruit and vegetables intake was found to be associated with higher maternal educational attainment, more social support, adequate self-rated practice, positive behavioral intention, higher body mass index, better physical activity, and adequate daily sleeping. The findings revealed insufficient fruit and vegetables intake among adolescents in a semi-urban area of Bangladesh and associated socio-environmental, personal, and behavioral factors that were utilized in developing an intervention program for this transient age group.