Food Consumption Practice and Nutritional Status of Adolescent Girls from Urban areas of Pokhara, Nepal

World Health Organization defined adolescent as the population of 10-19 years of age. Inadequate food consumption patterns during adolescence are linked not only with the occurrence of obesity in youth, but also with the subsequent risk of developing diseases such as cancer, obesity and cardiovascular disease in adulthood and later in life. This study aims to assess the food consumption practice and nutritional status among adolescent girls. Cross-sectional study design was used to determine the food consumption practice and nutritional status among adolescent girls. Simple random sampling method was used in this study. Interview schedule, Bathroom Scale and Stature meter were used to collect the data from adolescent girls. Anthropometric measurements of all participants were taken and the questionnaire was filled up. Data were entered in EPIDATA 3.1 and analyzed by using SPSS version 20. In this study, majority (63.1 per cent) of participants did not consume sufficient calorie. Mean ± SD of calorie intake was 2009.97± 342.366 Kcal. In same way, 27.4 per cent, 64.6 per cent, 8.0 per cent of the participants were underweight, normal and overweight respectively. Mean ± SD of BMI was 20.46±2.99 kg/m2 . Underweight was high in private schools and overweight was high in Public schools. Family monthly income and religion were associated with calorie intake and fruits consumption per week was associated with nutritional status of participants. This study concluded that around two-third of participants consumed insufficient amount calorie. It has been found that majority of the participants did not consume sufficient amount of foods from different groups like: body building and protective food as per required. Participants who consumed fruits more than 4 days per week were 2.5 times more likely to be normal (OR 2.500; 95%CI 1.194-5.233; P=0.013). So, information should be given about the balanced diet to them. Key words: Food consumption practice, Nutritional status, Adolescent girls, Urban areas