Food Science Research Journal

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access
Open Access Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Restricted Access Subscription Access

Clinical Assessment and Nutritional Awareness among School Going Adolescent Girls of Kanpur (U.P.)


Affiliations
1 Department of Home Science, Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University, Kanpur (U.P.), India
2 Department of Home Science, Guru Nanak Girls P.G. College, Kamla Nagar, Kanpur (U.P.), India
     

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


The present study was conducted in Kanpur (U.P.) among 400 school going adolescent girls (13-19 years) for finding out their clinical problems, general health status and nutritional awareness. From the investigation conducted it was observed that 97.2 per cent school going adolescent girls were suffering from problems of hair; 43 per cent teeth , 36.5 per cent nails, 31.5 per cent skin, 30.7 per cent lips and tongue, 24 per cent eyes and 13.5 per cent from problems related to gums. Regarding their health status, about 78 per cent girls were suffering from general health problems like constipation, acidity, headache etc. Irregular menstrual cycle was reported by 35.5 per cent of girls and extra hair growth by 17.3 per cent of girls. Only 9.3 per cent girls were aware of their haemoglobin level and 29.5 per cent of their blood group. De worming course and vaccination was done by 12.3 per cent and 58.5 per cent adolescent girls, respectively. Knowledge that egg yolk is rich in cholesterol was reported by only 16.5 per cent of girls, similarly only 27.3 per cent knew that yellow fruits and vegetables are rich sources of vitamin A. Awareness of fats restriction for preventing heart problems and obesity was found only in 34.8 per cent of girls. Less than fifty per cent of girls were not aware of the fact that iron deficiency causes anaemia. It was observed that the health status of the girls was not good and the nutritional awareness level was also low. Therefore, it is the time to take immediate steps to overcome the problems of adolescents. Family, peer group, medical organizations, media and school together should plan and make needful efforts so that they live healthy life.

Keywords

Adolescence, Clinical Observation, Nutritional Awareness.
Subscription Login to verify subscription
User
Notifications
Font Size


  • Alam, N., Roy, S.K. and Shamsir Ahmed, A.M. (2010). Nutritional status, dietary intake, and relevant knowledge of adolescent girls in rural Bangladesh. J. Health Popul. Nutr., 28(1) : 86–94.

  • Anitha, R.M. and Sathiyasekaran, B.W.C. (2013). Mental Health symptoms and substance use among urban school going adolescents. J. Indian Assoc. Child Adolesc. Ment. Health, 9(4):102–135.

  • Anonymous (2014). Strategy handbook. Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram. Adolescent Health Division, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

  • Baker, J.P., Detsky, A.S. and Wesson, D.E. (1982).Nutritional assessment: A comparison of clinical judgement and objective measurements. N. Engl. J. Med., (306) : 969– 972.

  • Bhattacharya, A., Basu, M., Chatterjee, S., Misra, R.N. and Chowdhury, G. (2015). Nutritional status and morbidity profile of school-going adolescents in a district of West Bengal. Muller J. Med. Sci. Res., 6 : 10-15.

  • Chandramouli, C. (2013).Release of social and cultural tables: age.data highlights.Census of India 2011.

  • Griffiths, W. (1972). Health education definitions: Problems and Philosophies. Health Education Monographs, 31: 12–14.

  • Hemalathaa, R. and Mary, P.A. (2013).Impact of eating pattern on health status of adolescent girls. Internat. J. Innovative Res. & Develop., 2 (3): 804-814.

  • Karimi, M., Heidarnia, A.and Ghofranipur, F. (2010). Effective factors on using medication in aging by using healthy believe. J. Arak Med. Univ., 14 (5) : 70 -78.

  • Kurz, K.M. and Johnson-Welch, C. (1994). The nutrition and lives of girls in developing countries: Findings from the nutrition of adolescent girls research programme. International Centre for Research on Women, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.

  • Muro,G.S., Gross, U., Gross, R. and Wahyuniar, L. (1999). Increase in compliance with weekly iron supplementation of adolescent girls by an accompanying communication programme in secondary schools in Dares- Salaam, Tanzania. Food Nutr. Bull., 20(4): 435-444.

  • Priyadarshini, R., Jasmine, S.,Valarmathi, S. Kalpana, S. and Parameswari, S. (2013). Impact of media on the physical health of urban school children of age group 11-17 yrs in Chennai - A cross sectional study. J. Humanities & Soc. Sci., 9(5) : 30–35.

  • Saranya, P.V., Shanifa, N., Susan, S., Thomas, S., Umarani, J. and Shetty, A.P. (2016). Adolescent’s knowledge regarding the effects of fast food on health. Internat. J. Current Medical Res., 5 (3): 406-409.

  • Simonds, S. (1976). Health education in the mid-1970s: State of the art. In: Preventive Medicine, New York, U.S.A.

  • Uddin, M.J., Nag, S.K. and Sil, S.K. (2015). Anthropometric assessment of nutritional status of adolescents in rural school of Unokoti district of Tripura, North-East India. Anthropologist, 19(1): 277-284.

  • UNESCO (1996). International Commission on education for the twenty-first century, learning: The treasure within, report to UNESCO, Paris.

  • UNICEF (2001). Multiple indicator cluster surveys.

  • UNICEF (2012). Progress for children: A report card on adolescents. Socio-demographic profile of adolescents.

  • Vaida, N. (2013). Prevalence of fast food intake among urban adolescent students. Internat. J. Engg. & Sci., 2:353-359.

  • WHO (1948). Preamble to the constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted by the International Health Conference, New -York.

  • WHO (1998). Preparation use of food based dietary guidelines.

  • WHO technical report series; 880, Geneva.

  • WHO (2003). Public health at a glance: adolescent nutrition.

  • WHO (2009). Strengthening the health sector response to adolescent health and development. Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development (CAH), World Health Organization, 20, Avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland.

  • WHO (2011).Young people: health risks and solutions. Fact sheet no. 345.


Abstract Views: 249

PDF Views: 0




  • Clinical Assessment and Nutritional Awareness among School Going Adolescent Girls of Kanpur (U.P.)

Abstract Views: 249  |  PDF Views: 0

Authors

Rakhee Katiyar
Department of Home Science, Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University, Kanpur (U.P.), India
Gurmeet Kaur
Department of Home Science, Guru Nanak Girls P.G. College, Kamla Nagar, Kanpur (U.P.), India

Abstract


The present study was conducted in Kanpur (U.P.) among 400 school going adolescent girls (13-19 years) for finding out their clinical problems, general health status and nutritional awareness. From the investigation conducted it was observed that 97.2 per cent school going adolescent girls were suffering from problems of hair; 43 per cent teeth , 36.5 per cent nails, 31.5 per cent skin, 30.7 per cent lips and tongue, 24 per cent eyes and 13.5 per cent from problems related to gums. Regarding their health status, about 78 per cent girls were suffering from general health problems like constipation, acidity, headache etc. Irregular menstrual cycle was reported by 35.5 per cent of girls and extra hair growth by 17.3 per cent of girls. Only 9.3 per cent girls were aware of their haemoglobin level and 29.5 per cent of their blood group. De worming course and vaccination was done by 12.3 per cent and 58.5 per cent adolescent girls, respectively. Knowledge that egg yolk is rich in cholesterol was reported by only 16.5 per cent of girls, similarly only 27.3 per cent knew that yellow fruits and vegetables are rich sources of vitamin A. Awareness of fats restriction for preventing heart problems and obesity was found only in 34.8 per cent of girls. Less than fifty per cent of girls were not aware of the fact that iron deficiency causes anaemia. It was observed that the health status of the girls was not good and the nutritional awareness level was also low. Therefore, it is the time to take immediate steps to overcome the problems of adolescents. Family, peer group, medical organizations, media and school together should plan and make needful efforts so that they live healthy life.

Keywords


Adolescence, Clinical Observation, Nutritional Awareness.

References