Navied U, Ishtiaq R, Zaman I M, Sharif A, Khushnood N.
Assessment and Perception of Dietary Habits among Primary School Children in Lahore.
Biomedica Jan ;33(3):197-205.

Background & Objectives: School going children are the important part of our society. Their growth, development and body weight are of utmost significance. These significant aspects associated with children are dependent on a number of factors. For instance, body weight depends on energy balance. In fact, the intake of food depends not only on food availability but also on a number of complex interrelationships that include stimulus of good food, the role of hunger, metabolic changes, hypoglycemia, pleasure and habit of eating. The objective of this study was to assess and perceive the knowledge, attitude and practices of healthy food consumption among primary school going children in private and public schools. Methods: This study was conducted comprising a sample of 200 primary school children. A list of all schools of Lahore was prepared, considering each school as a cluster. Total 10 schools were selected from which 5 were private & 5 were government. Simple random sampling was selected for choosing the students that fall in the age group of 5 ? 10 year. Twenty students from each school both males and females of class 1 ? 5 were selected through simple random sampling and questionnaires were filled by self interviewing method. Results: Results showed that school children have knowledge of healthy food especially in private schools, as compared to government schools. It was found that, out of 200 children 75% had preference of junk food, 54% had no knowledge that having breakfast is good for health and 55% children preferred eating home cooked food instead of canteen food. Further results showed that children of private schools had more perception of intake of healthy food than the public school (Chi-Square = 5.459-p value 0.019) the consumption of dairy products is more in public school as compared to private schools. (Chi-Square = 4.699-p value = 0.039) and the tendency of consumption of fruits daily was more in females than in males (Chi-Square = 16.564-p value = 0.0). Conclusion: This research has assessed the perception regarding knowledge, attitudes and practices of healthy food consumption among primary school children. The findings of the study explain that knowledge about healthy food prevails more in children of private schools in comparison to public schools. The dietary habits of children depend upon their preferences of food.

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