Assessment of nutritional status and cardiovascular risk factors related to the dietary habits in adolescents living rural and urban area

In this study it is planned to assess nutritional status and the cardiovascular risk factors related to the dietary habits of the adolescents living in both rural areas and urban. Totally 182 adolescents; consisting of 99 boys and 83 girls, between the ages of 11-13 and having education at the two schools located in central district and Çiçekdağı district of Kırşehir province, have been investigated. The body weight, heigh, mid upper arm, waist and hip circumfuences, biceps, triceps, suprailiac and subscapular skinfold thicknesses have been measured; body mass index and percentage of body fat have been calculated. Moreover, in order to determine the food consumption and the physical activity levels of the adolescents, the many questions have been asked to the adolescents and cardiovascular risk factors related to the dietary habits have also been investigated. In this study the province of Kırşehir is considered as the urban (n:91) and the Boğazevci boroughs of the Çiçekdağı county as the rural area (n:91) The percentage of fat that the boys and girls living in the rural areas and urban are respectively; %26±3.8, %32.1±7 %32.5±11.8, %35.3±4.8. The body weight, heigh, mid upper arm, waist and hip circumferences, biceps, triceps, suprailiac and subscapular skinfold thickness have been higher than the adolescents living in the rural areas. In the urban, the prevalence of obesity and overweight has been found at higher frequency rates than in the rural area; whereas, the incidence rate of malnutrition has been found at lower frequency (p<0.05). The adolescents living in the rural areas were more active than the urban ones; particularly, the amount of time that the adolescents spent for the weekend sedentary activities, have been found to be longer among the urban adolescent boys and girls. Daily amount of dietary energy, animal proteins, vitamin B1, B2, C, calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc intakes have been higher among the urban adolescent boys and girls (p<0.05). Energy and nutrients except for vitamin B12 inadequacies have been higher among the rural adolescents compared to the adolescents living in urban. Cardiovascular risk factors related to the dietary habits are considerably high, and especially in rural areas the total amount of fat, saturated fatty acid, cholesterol intake are higher than the urban, and the monounsaturated fatty acid intake is higher in urban than in the rural areas. The adequate and balanced nutrition should be provided for all adolescents, primarily the adolescents living in rural areas. The amounts of fat, fiber, vitamin and mineral intake should be evaluated and the support for school nutrition programs should be recommended.Key Words: Adolescent, Nutrition, Cardiovascular risk factors, Rural, Urban