Assessment of Nutritional Status among Preparatory School Girls in Talkha City

Background: Adolescence is the period of transition from childhood to adulthood, and it occupies a crucial position in the human life. Nutrition for adolescents is important in which there was found changes in growth and hormones, activity, and food intake. The objective of the work: was to assess the nutritional status of preparatory school girls in Talkha city. Patients and methods: a descriptive crosssectional study on a group of 500 students from the second and third year of the preparatory school girls at Talkha City in Dakahlia governorate , the tools used : 1A self-administered questionnaire for assessing socio-demographic characteristics of students, anthropometric measurements included weight and height, nutritional health problems, assessing dietary knowledge, and eating habits.2 An observational checklist to observe signs of malnutrition for the students. Results: majority of students, girls aged from 1314 years old and their mothers were house wife (69.6% &77.3%) , Only less than half studied sample has correct knowledge about the balanced diet, the components of healthy diet, and the effect of healthy balanced diet on individual’s health (34.6 %&20%&78.4%) respectively. Majority of students prefer eating food during watching TV., eating spices and salty food, and eating much candies (76.2% &74.6%& 73.6%) respectively. The most common health problems were headache, GIT problems and dental decay respectively. Conclusion: only one quarter of the studied sample had correct and complete answers about balanced diet. The present study recommended that, health education for nutrition and healthy balanced diet should be integrated in the curriculum of preparatory school girls. Nurses and medical staff must play a significant role in screening, teaching, and guiding of adolescents about healthy balanced diet.