Assessment of Nutritional Knowledge and Practices Regarding Canteen Snacks among Youth in Maharashtra

Abstract

Introduction- 1/5^th Indian populas is adolescents & 66% are U5, making India a young country. Due to increasing urbanization & industrialization the reproductive young population in India is undergoing dramatic physical, financial, social, food behavior and cultural transitions which dramatically are impacting the general & nutritional health and well-being of individuals. In latest studies, non-nutritious institutional food supply, food menu and deficient food choices of youth are the top causative factors for making LSDs epidemic along with other DD. NCDs in India will cost national loss ~3.6 trillion and heart wrenching 63% preventable NCDs deaths by 2030. All this makes the present study an exigency towards food serving & health care sector.

Methodology- For present study single sample, pre-test and non-experimental developmental research design was adapted to select sample size of 50 of 15 – 45 yrs. (male & female) based on inclusion & exclusion criteria through purposive random sampling from the study area at Aurangabad. For data collection structured interview schedule which consisted of 3 sections namely – Sociodemographic profile, assessment of knowledge and assessment of practices was developed & validated from experts before field administration. Data was tabulated in MS-Excel 2007 version and statistical analysis was done using IBM SPSS advanced statistics 29.0 (5725-A54) version.

Objectives- 1. To assess the nutritional knowledge regarding canteen snacks of college students. 2. To assess the practices regarding canteen snacks of college students.

Results & Discussion- The overall assessment of respondent’s nutritional knowledge on category basis shows, 30% had knowledge of food groups, 34% knows about nutrients, 64% had knowledge related to cooking methods, 76% had food choices knowledge, 95% had knowledge of my plate, and 80% had knowledge of food menu.

It shows that in 14% prefer eating in canteen daily, 14% prefer alternately, 32% weekly and 40% sometimes/ never; in type of snacks preferred most 64% prefer fried foods, 24% prefer packed foods, and 10% prefer drinks like cola, etc.; 20% consume millets daily in meals, 8% alternately, 26% weekly and 46% sometimes/never; 26% consumes vegetables daily in snack items, 6% alternately, 18% weekly, 50% sometimes/ never; 38% were consuming fruits daily, 26% alternately, 32% weekly and 4% some/never; 48% preferred eating sprouts daily and 52% did not preferred eating sprouts on daily basis; 24% consume packed fruit juices, 54% consume fresh fruit juices, 14% aerated drinks and 8% consume flavored; 46% always smell food for food spoilage, 34% smell sometimes, 14% never and 6% can’t say; 32% eat fast food 1 time/day, 20% eat 2 times/day, 4% eat 3 times/day & 44% responded none; and regarding the taste 18% prefer sweet taste, 47% prefer sour and 78% prefer spicy.