Junk Food Consumption and Its Association with Body Mass Index Among School Adolescents

Healthy and nutritious food are being replaced by new commercial food items called Junk Food. These food item are with high calories but with low nutritive values. Excess consumption of junk food is associated with several nutritional problems ranging from underweight to obesity and various Non-communicable diseases. The study was conducted to assess the general junk food consumption habits, pattern and its association with Body Mass Index among adolescents. A descriptive cross sectional design was adopted to collect data among 311 adolescents studying in grade 8 & 9 of selected private school at, Parsa, Nepal using a pretested structured self-administered questionnaire. The obtained data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS 16 version. The result of the study revealed that age range of adolescents was 12-17 years. 37% of the adolescents were in the age group of 15 years. The BMI value was 18.81±2.35 whereas majority 50.5% of the adolescents was having BMI less than normal and were considered underweight. The time of junk food consumption is significantly associated with BMI with (p value 0.02) and amount of money spend on junk food is also associated with BMI with (p value 0.006). Junk food consumption is significantly associated with low BMI among adolescents. Only a limited numbers of adolescents have understood that excess consumption of junk food has negative effects on general health. This study may contribute to provide awareness regarding the consequences of junk food consumption along with setting limits over junk food by parents and teachers to promote healthy dietary habits among adolescents.