2006, Volume 12 No. 1

ARTICLE 2

Dietary Intake of Adolescents in a Rural Fishing Community in Tuaran District, Sabah

Foo Leng Huat¹, Khor Geok Lin¹, Tee E Siong² & Dhanaraj Prabakaran^3
1 Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UPM, Selangor, Malaysia
² Former Head, Centre for Cardiovascular, Diabetes and Nutrition Research Centre, Institute for Medical Research, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
³ District Health Office of Lahad Datu, Lahad Latu, Sabah

ABSTRACT
Dietary intakes and lifestyle habits during adolescence may predict the occurrence of obesity and other diet-related chronic diseases later in life. The purpose of this study was to determine dietary intake of adolescents in a fishing community in Tuaran District, Sabah. A total of 199 apparently healthy adolescents comprising 94 male and 105 female subjects were purposively selected for the study. The mean age of the subjects was 15.2 ± 2.2 years with female subjects having a higher mean age of 15.7 ± 2.4 years compared to the males (14.6 ± 1.8 years). The mean BMI of the subjects was 18.4 ± 2.9 kg/m² with females having a significantly higher BMI (18.9 ± 2.8 kg/m²) than the males (17.8 ± 3.0 kg/m²). Based on the WHO classification (WHO, 1995), 19.6% of the subjects could be classified as thin while 4.5% were at risk of overweight. Overall for both sexes, intake of energy and most nutrients were below the Malaysian recommended nutrient intake (RNI) levels for adolescents, with the exception of vitamin C and niacin. The male subjects showed higher mean intake for vitamin A, thiamine, niacin and vitamin C than the females. Calcium and iron intake ranked among the lowest levels, at 33.4% and 47.2% respectively of the RNI values for both sexes. The main sources of energy were rice, flour products and tubers while fish and seafood were the chief sources of protein. Majority of the subjects (84%) reported taking breakfast daily, which often consisted of fried noodles, fried banana, doughnuts and coffee. Consumption of snacks was popular and commonly consumed snacks were bread, biscuits, and fried banana. The present study revealed that 25.5% and 14.3% of the male and female adolescents respectively were thin, with majority of them consuming inadequate levels of energy and several key nutrients. The results underscore the need for adolescents to be targeted for nutrition and health education as they go through a period of marked physical, physiological and psychological changes.

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