Introduction: Overweight and obesity among adolescents are not caused by a single factor, and evidence indicates that the food environment is one of the driving forces behind the current escalating obesity epidemic. Therefore, it is imperative to explore any perceived factors related to food choices and quality of food in the school food environ- ment among adolescents. Methods: A qualitative study based on the Socio-Ecological Model (SEM) was conducted on a purposive, multi-ethnic sample of 51 adolescents from different localities. The semi-structured and in-depth in- terviews were fully transcribed and analyzed qualitatively using Atlas.Ti. The transcribed texts were coded into simi- lar and related themes such as food choices, quality of food, social-peers’ influence, cost of food and self-awareness. Results: The findings revealed that there is a clustering of barriers to practising a healthy dietary intake within the school food environment. Accessibility to low cost snacks and fried foods, influence by parents and peers, as well as the autonomous character of informants in making their own purchases are the contributing factors to healthy eating practice among adolescents. Conclusions: The study highlights that the barriers to practicing healthy eating consid- erably outweighs the enabling factors. Therefore, the findings will help facilitate the construction of policy-driven environmental changes as well as strategies in designing effective and multilevel interventions that raise awareness in helping adolescents navigate healthy food in their school’s compound.
Introduction: Child malnutrition continues to be a major public health problem in developing countries. This study aims to determine the current nutritional status of Malaysian school children using the anthropometric indicators of weight for age (WAZ), height for age (HAZ), and body mass index for age (BAZ). Methods: A nationwide school-based survey was undertaken in all Malaysian
states and territories, which included 18,078 children aged 8-10 years attending 445 primary schools. The software WHO AnthroPlus was used to calculate zscores for the nutritional status (WAZ, HAZ and BAZ) of the target population relative to the World Health Organization (WHO) 2007 reference. Results: The national prevalence of underweight among school children was 13.6% and in
rural areas, this rate was nearly double that of urban areas. The national prevalence rate for stunting was 10.9%, double among rural school children compared to their urban counterparts. As for thinness, the national prevalence was 6.5%. Using the WAZ indicator, we found that the national prevalence of overweight children was 7.6%. Additionally, we found that urban areas showed a higher
prevalence of overweight children (8.8%) than rural areas (5.9%). Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that Malaysian school children face the burden of malnutrition, suffering from both undernourishment and overweight. Malaysia must make a concerted effort to overcome the problems of malnutrition among children.