Dietary behaviours of adolescents from urban and rural areas in the district of Szamotuły--a preliminary study.

INTRODUCTION Numerous factors and conditions affect the dietary behaviours of the young population. Urban-rural differences may also influence the lifestyle of adolescents, including diet. AIM To describe dietary behaviours of two young populations: living in urban or rural areas in the district of Szamotuły (a city with a population of 19,000 inhabitants). MATERIAL AND METHODS 116 adolescents aged 15-17 years were included to this preliminary study and asked to answer questions concerning health and lifestyle. RESULTS No statistically significant difference was detected in the number of meals eaten daily, and 3 meals a day was the most frequent answer (45.9% in the rural group and 32.7% in the urban group). About 41.0% of rural subjects and 50.9% of urban ones admitted that they ate fresh fruit and vegetables every day. There was no statistically significant difference in the medium consumption frequency of fresh fruit, vegetable, fish, sweets and salty snacks. CONCLUSIONS 1. Between rural and urban adolescents no statistically significant differences were observed in dietary behaviours concerning medium number of meals eaten daily, medium frequency of fresh fruit and vegetable consumption, medium monthly frequency of fish consumption, medium weekly frequency of consumption of sweets and salty snacks. 2. More than a half of the young rural dwellers preferred more salty meals in contrast to over 56% of urban youths who preferred less salty meals. Both urban and rural adolescents most often declared that eat sweets and salty snacks daily. 3. There is a great need to change the dietary habits of teenagers, especially in avoiding an over-intake of high fat and high energy products, in order to reduce the rising prevalence of obesity among adolescents.