الفهرس 
Demography of the adolescence stageOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Adolescence is one of the most rapid phases of human development. It is a period of life with specific health and developmental needs. Healthy eating during adolescence is important as body changes during this time affect an individual’s nutritional and dietary needs. Teens tend to eat more meals away from home than younger children. They are also heavily influenced by their peers and they may tend to consume unhealthy foods and drinks. The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents has risen dramatically over the last years. Prevention of overweight during adolescents is the key to success for obesity control as obese children will eventually become obese adults. Prevention of childhood obesity on the other hand can be more rewarding, providing better chances for reducing long-term complications. Nutrition knowledge is one of the factors that could influence an adolescent’s eating behavior and helping in maintenance of appropriate body weight. There are several personal, social, and environmental barriers to healthy eating and physical activity among adolescents. The goal of our study was to provide an epidemiological profile of the overweight problem among preparatory school children in Tanta City, Egypt (can help policy makers in dealing with this problem in early adolescence and preventing its long term consequences). The aim of this study was: 1. Assessment of the prevalence of overweight and obesity among preparatory school children in Tanta city. 2. Assessment of students’ nutritional knowledge, eating habits and barriers to healthy eating. Subjects and methods: This study was cross sectional one carried-out at the preparatory schools in Tanta city, Egypt. The study subjects included 500 students(250 boys and 250 girls) were chosen by stratified random sample technique. The first strata was boys and girls schools (3 schools for each of them were chosen randomly) and the second strata was the school grades as each school was divided into three grades and one class was chosen randomly from each grade. Tools of the study were:1. A predesigned questionnaire formed of three parts (sociodemographic data, questions about nutritional knowledge and behavior and barriers to healthy eating questions). 2. Weight and height measurement to calculate BMI. The results of the current study can be summarized as follow: The sample included 500 students, 50% of them were males and 50% were females with their age ranges from 12 to 15 years old and the mean was 13.03±0.961. The entire sample was from urban areas: from Tanta preparatory schools. Each grade was representing nearly one third of the sample. More than half of the participants’ fathers completed university education and about one third of them were employee. On the other hand, more than one third of the participants’ mothers completed university education and more than half of them were housewives. The prevalence of overweight and obesity of the studied group was (22.8% and 11.8%) respectively. Overweight was more common among females, while obesity was more among males. Percent of overweighed males and females from the total participants was (9.4% and 13.4%) respectively. While percent of obese males and females from the total participants was (6.6% and 5.2%) respectively. Overweighed and obese females represent (26.8% and 10.4% respectively) from the studied females. While in males, overweight and obesity represent (18.8% and 13.2% respectively) from the studied males. According to Egypt growth charts (BMI for age) the normal weight represented the highest percent in females and males (62% and 65.6% respectively) while underweight was only (0.8% and 2.4%) in females and males respectively. The mean weight of studied females and males considered more than average weight for age (12-15) years. On the other hand, mean height in females considered equal to average height at (12-) years and more than the average height for age at (13-15) years. While in males, mean height considered more than average height at age (12-) years and lower than average height at age (14-15) years. The nutritional knowledge was good as regards (food less in fat, meaning of balanced diet and food rich in iron). Fair nutritional knowledge as regards food (contains carbohydrates, rich in dietary fibers and that rich in calories). Relatively poor nutritional knowledge was showed as regards to (food element produces more energy per gram, functions of vitamins and minerals and meaning of healthy diet). Poor nutritional knowledge was mentioned as regards (main source of energy supply to the body, the richest food in protein and meaning of daily energy expenditure). Regarding nutritional knowledge level, nearly three quarters of the participants (76.4%) had fair knowledge, followed by (19.4%) with a good knowledge and only (4.2%) with a poor knowledge. The present study revealed that students had healthy eating habits as regards (food usually eaten in breakfast, drinked beverages between meals, consuming soda rarely and eating rarely while watching TV). Relatively healthy eating habits among students as regards (eating breakfast daily, beverages consumed at breakfast, frequency of daily consumption of milk cups, fruits, fresh vegetables “ in those who consume it daily ” and amount of energy supplying food which consumed daily). Unhealthy eating habits among students as regards (number of meals eaten daily, eating unhealthy snakes between main meals or at school break, composition of snakes, drinking the required amount of water daily, consuming milk, fruits, fresh vegetables daily, frequency of eating building food and fast food weekly). Regarding nutritional behavior level, the majority of students (88.4%) had fairly sound nutritional behavior followed by unsound nutritional behavior (6.2%) and sound nutritional behavior (5.4%). Nearly two thirds of the participants prefer healthy eating but there are some barriers to this habit in those who not prefer healthy eating. Most of their families (59.6%) don’t know how to prepare foods in a healthy way followed by (57.2%) of the students’ families don’t have time to make healthy foods, (55.4%) think that they will still hungry if they eat healthy foods and lastly (53%) of the students think that healthy foods cost too much. The present study showed that there was a statistically significant difference between male and female students as regards to educational grade, father education and job. Overweighed males were more present in 1st and 2nd grade. While in females, it was more present in 3rd grade. Overweighed males were more among students who’s their fathers had low level of education. While overweighed females were more among students who’s their father had high level of education. Overweighed males were more among students who’s their fathers work as employee while in females, it was more among students who’s their fathers were professional. On the other hand, male and female students as regards mother education and job, there was no statistically significant difference. But it was noticed that overweighed males were more among students who’s their mothers had low level of education while overweighed females were more among students who’s their mothers had high level of education. Overweighed males and females were more present in students who’s their mothers were housewives with percent (48.9% and 56.7%) respectively. The present study showed that there was a statistically significant difference between both sexes as regards to nutritional knowledge level. More overweighed females had good nutritional knowledge than males. However, there was no statistically significant difference between both sexes as regards nutritional behavior level. Most of the overweighed males and females had fairly sound nutritional behavior. Also, the results revealed that more females had good knowledge and more females had unsound behavior compared to males. Moreover, there was no significant association between nutritional knowledge and behavior level.