Nutritional state and eating behavior associated with school achievement in adolescents

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This is a transversal study with the objective to verify the association among nutritional state, eating behavior, and school achievement of adolescents of four municipal schools of Lajeado in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. METHOD: The sample was made up of 147 adolescents. To classify their nutritional state, the Body Mass Index per age was used, and to verify eating behavior the form of the Ministry of Health was used. School achievement was determined through students’ grades. Statistical tests ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis with a significance level of p≤0,05 were used. RESULTS: It was verified that 69.4% of adolescents were eutrophic; 15% were obese; 14.3% were overweight, and 1.4% had low weight. CONCLUSIONS: Eutrophic adolescents showed a higher food consumption frequency than obese ones. There was no significant difference between BMI and school grades. Although most adolescents were eutrophic, it is necessary to pay attention to overweight and obesity prevalence due to their relationship with several health problems.