Perception and Practices of Food Habit and Nutritional Status of Adolescent Girls in Bangladesh: A Comparative Study between Garment Workers and School Going Girls

This study compared the Perception and Practice of Food Habit and Nutritional Status of Adolescent Girls between Garment Workers and School Going Girls in Bangladesh. Adolescent health has become one of the most widely discussed and sensitive issues. In Bangladesh 21% is adolescent of the total population. Adolescent girls need more food, care and knowledge about nutritive food. In Bangladesh more than one third of adolescents are not properly aware of the increased nutritional requirement during the adolescent period for proper growth. A cross sectional study was conducted in Samars Fashion Tex Ltd. Badda, FS Sweater Ltd Mirpur, Dhaka and Azimpur Girls High School, Kurmitola High School, Ali Hussein Girls High School, Jatrabari Ideal School, Udayan High School in Dhaka city. Total sample size was 210 and study was based on adolescent girls’ aged between 10 to 19 years. 110 adolescent girls were randomly chosen from the two garment industries and 100 adolescent girls from the five schools in Dhaka city. In our study, both of the groups have good perception about nutritive food, P value =0.004. Both of them think that they need more food during pregnancy, P value = 0.005. The hygiene practices in both groups were almost 90% hygienic. Based on the results of this study, it is possible to decrease the superstition and restriction about food habit. The improvements could be made by providing correct and specific nutrition education to the garment workers and school going adolescent girls.