Investigation of diet quality, hedonic hunger and obesity status of 3rd and 4th grade primary school students

This study was conducted to evaluate the diet quality, hedonic hunger and obesity status of 3rd and 4th grade primary school students. The study was carried out with a total of 132 children, 72 girls and 60 boys, studying in two primary schools in Ankara. A questionnaire form was applied by the researcher to determine the sociodemographic characteristics, health status and eating habits of the children. A "24-hour dietary recall" was taken to determine daily energy and nutrient intake and diet quality. "Food Power Scale for Children" was used to evaluate hedonic hunger levels and "24-hour physical activity recall" was used to determine physical activity levels. Anthropometric measurements were taken by the researcher. 41.7% of the children were 9 years old and 58.3% were 10 years old. According to MAR classification, the diet quality of 84.8% of the children was found to be "good" and 15.2% was found to be "needs modification". The mean total score of the PFS was found to be 2.8±0.76 for children, 2.9±0.71 for boys and 3.2±0.93 for girls. No significant difference was found in the total scores of the scale in terms of gender (p>0.05). According to BMI z score classification by age, 28.8% of children were overweight and 15.9% were obese. The total PFS score was 2.80±0.71 in normal, 2.70±0.70 in overweight and 3.05±0.90 in obese children. There was no statistically significant difference between BMI and PFS scores (p>0.05). The total PFS score was 2.93±0.79 for the children who skipped meals and 2.65±0.70 for those who did not skip meals. The food availability scores of children who ate snacks on screen (2.43±0.75) were higher than those of children who sometimes ate snacks on screen (2.09±0.78) and children who did not eat snacks on screen (2.08±0.97) (p<0.05). Children whose diet quality was classified as "good" had a total score of 2.81±0.59, while those whose diet quality was classified as "needs improvement" had a total score of 2.80±0.78. v In conclusion, in this study, skipping meals and consuming snacks in front of the screen were found to be associated with hedonic hunger scores. Developing healthy eating habits in this age group is important for the prevention of obesity and healthy growth and development