engleski

Adolescent acceptance of different foods with regard to sex and nutritional state

This work investigated possible differences in food preference between obese and normal-weight adolescents, as well as between female and male 7th grade pupils (n=88; average age = 13.1 years). Affinity for nine food groups (cereal products, milk and dairy products, meat, fish, eggs, fats and products, vegetables, fruits and confectionery) was determined with a 7-point facial hedonic scale. Each face presented one of the following attitudes: like extremely, like very much, like moderately, neither like or dislike, dislike moderately, dislike very much and dislike extremely. The average scores for the food groups by all children are 5.49, 5.54, 5.46, 4.92, 5.64, 4.77, 5.06, 6.40 and 5.66, respectively. The children were divided according to their Body Mass Index into normal-weight and obese group, respectively. In this group of adolescents we could not find any proof for the theory of greater acceptance of fattening foods of obese vs. normal-weight people. There were significant differences in the mean hedonic scores for meat (p=0.0015) and confectionery (p=0.0002) between boys and girls. Some psychological and social factors (e.g. perception of ideal body shape) are most logical explanation for the observed differences, but they could also explain the lack of difference between normal-weight and obese adolescents (e.g. social stigmatization of obesity). Further research should clarify whether food preference plays any significant role in the etiology of adolescent obesity or not.

food preference; obesity status; hedonic scale; adolescents; BMI; sex

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