Correlation Between Diet Preference and Protein Consumption in Low Socio-Economic Female Adolescents in Navi Mumbai, India

Objective: Studies have shown the prevalence of Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM) in adolescents among low socio-economic group. Thus, this study was carried out to understand link between protein intake and diet preference across Body Mass Index (BMI) categories in female adolescents belonging to low socio-economic group.

Method: 486 female adolescents between age group 10-17 years were randomly selected. Of which, 123, 48 and 315 preferred vegetarians, eggetarian and non-vegetarian respectively. The school faculties and parents of the children were prior consented for the data collection of the observatory study. The 3 categories of BMI were considered- Underweight/ Poor weight, Healthy weight and Overweight/Obese. Height, Weight, Diet preference and 7-day food recall was recorded for each of them. Consumed protein intake was then calculated using Ntuitive software which was then compared with Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA). Statistical analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS version 20 to evaluate association between protein intake and dietary preference across BMI.

Results: Statistical analysis showed that protein consumption in non-vegetarians was found to be significantly correlated (p=0.006) across all BMI categories. However, there was no association found in vegetarians and eggetarians with respect to protein consumption and BMI (p=>0.05). 60.7% were found to be deficit in protein consumption among non-vegetarians which may be due to their low socio-economic status and affordability.

Conclusion: The socio-economic factors that significantly influenced protein consumption among them can be the parent’s income status and family’s affordability, number of siblings in the family, lack of knowledge and awareness in family, preparation or method/ way of cooking techniques. The diet preferences did influence the protein intake in low socioeconomic status female adolescents. Further research will enable better insights to improve protein consumption in Indian children.