International Journal of School Health

Current Issue

By Issue

By Author

By Subject

Author Index

Keyword Index

About Journal

Aims and Scope

Editorial Board

Publication Ethics

Authorship Rules and Regulations

Indexing and Abstracting

Peer Review Process

Metrics

Forms

Determinants of Fast-Food Consumption Pattern and Causes of Tendency towards Ready-to-eat Food in Iranian Secondary School Students: A Cross-sectional Study

Document Type : Research Article (s)

Authors

1 Student Research Committee, Khoy University of Medical Sciences, Khoy, Iran

2 Department of Pediatric Nursing, Student Research Committee, Khoy University of Medical Sciences, Khoy, Iran

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of fast-food consumption in students has increased worldwide, causing multiple complications. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess fast-food consumption pattern and causes of tendency to ready-to-eat food in Iranian secondary school students.
Methods: This cross-sectional investigation was carried out among 600 students, 13-18 years old, selected by cluster sampling method from five districts of Khoy, Iran. Data were collected by demographic information, semi-quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) and causes of tendency towards ready-to-eat food questionnaires. Content and face validity of the questionnaire was proved by the faculty members of Khoy University of Medical Sciences. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics through SPSS version 19.
Results: Our results showed that 68.6% of the participants had a low fast-food consumption pattern. The main reasons for the tendency toward ready-to-eat food were “the good taste of these foods” (40.2%), and “compulsion and necessity if there is no food at home” (40.2%). There was a significant statistical association between gender (P=0.03), occupational status of mother (P=0.02), parents’ education (P=0.05), family’s decision to avoid fast-food restaurant (P=0.001), number of fast-food restaurants in the home to school path (P=0.001), and sports activities (P=0.03) as well as between the weight, awareness, and BMI (P=0.001) with fast-food consumption pattern.
Conclusions: Fast-food consumption pattern among students is mainly low possibly due to the awareness of students of the fact that fast-food consumption is an unwholesome dietary behavior as it augments weight and other hazard of diseases related to diet.

Highlights

Masumeh Akbarbegloo: (Google Scholar)

Keywords

References
  1. Schulze MB, Martínez-González MA, Fung TT, Lichtenstein AH, Forouhi NG. Food based dietary patterns and chronic disease prevention. BMJ. 2018;361:k2396. doi: 10.1136/bmj.k2396. PubMed PMID: 29898951; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5996879. ##
  2. Ashdown-Franks G, Vancampfort D, Firth J, Smith L, Sabiston CM, Stubbs B, et al. Association of leisure-time sedentary behavior with fast food and carbonated soft drink consumption among 133,555 adolescents aged 12-15 years in 44 low- and middle-income countries. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2019;16(1):35. doi: 10.1186/s12966-019-0796-3. PubMed PMID: 31014359; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6480660. ##
  3. Das JK, Salam RA, Thornburg KL, Prentice AM, Campisi S, Lassi ZS, et al. Nutrition in adolescents: physiology, metabolism, and nutritional needs. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2017;1393(1):21-33. doi: 10.1111/nyas.13330. PubMed PMID: 28436102. ##
  4. Amani F, Nemati A, Rahimi E, Farzizadeh F, Dideavary E, Nasirpour F, et al. Survey of Fast Food Consumption in Ardabil City. Journal of Health and Hygiene. 2015;5(2):127-137. Persian. ##
  5. Janssen HG, Davies IG, Richardson LD, Stevenson L. Determinants of takeaway and fast food consumption: a narrative review. Nutr Res Rev. 2018;31(1):16-34. doi: 10.1017/S0954422417000178. PubMed PMID: 29037273. ##
  6. Caleyachetty R, Thomas GN, Kengne AP, Echouffo-Tcheugui JB, Schilsky S, Khodabocus J, et al. The double burden of malnutrition among adolescents: analysis of data from the Global School-Based Student Health and Health Behavior in School-Aged Children surveys in 57 low- and middle-income countries. Am J Clin Nutr. 2018;108(2):414-424. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqy105. PubMed PMID: 29947727. ##
  7. Purtell KM, Gershoff ET. Fast Food Consumption and Academic Growth in Late Childhood. Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2015;54(9):871-7. doi: 10.1177/0009922814561742. PubMed PMID: 25480321; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8887837. ##
  8. Reuter PR, Forster BL, Brister SR. The influence of eating habits on the academic performance of university students. J Am Coll Health. 2021;69(8):921-927. doi: 10.1080/07448481.2020.1715986. PubMed PMID: 32027236. ##
  9. Fazelpour S, Hosseini N, Farzaneh Z, Shamsi F, Sardari F, Nikukaran J. A Study of Fast Foods Consumption Attitude among Secondary High School Students, Ardakan, Yazd, Iran. JCHR. 2019;8(1):11-17. doi: 10.18502/jchr.v8i1.557. Persian. ##
  10. Ebadi L, Rakhshanderou S, Ghaffari M. Determinants of Fast Food Consumption among Students of Tehran: Application of Planned Behavior Theory. Int J Pediatr. 2018;6(10):8307-16. doi: 10.22038/ijp.2018.30329.2668. ##
  11. Shirzadeh L, Sadeghi E, Salmannezhad A, Jafari SA, Dehghanipour M, Nasiri M. The Prevalence of Obesity and Overweight in Iranian High School Students: A Systematic Review. Health Provid. 2021;1(1):1-11. doi: 10.22034/hp.2022.148877. ##
  12. Namdar A, Naghizadeh MM, Zamani M, Montazeri A. Exploring the relationship between health literacy and fast food consumption: a population-based study from southern Iran. BMC Public Health. 2021;21(1):757. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-10763-3. ##
  13. Sangsefidi ZS, Lorzadeh E, Hosseinzadeh M, Mirzaei M. Dietary habits and psychological disorders in a large sample of Iranian adults: a population-based study. Ann Gen Psychiatry. 2020;19:8. doi: 10.1186/s12991-020-00263-w. PubMed PMID: 32123535; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7041096. ##
  14. Hassani M, Najjari M. Opportunity Inequality in Accessing Higher Education and Presentation of Equity Promotion Model to Achieve Sustainable Development: A Case Study of West Azerbaijan Province in Iran. Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 2020;22(1):124-139. doi: 10.2478/jtes-2020-0010. ##
  15. García Rodríguez M, Romero Saldaña M, Alcaide Leyva JM, Moreno Rojas R, Molina Recio G. Design and validation of a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for the nutritional evaluation of food intake in the Peruvian Amazon. J Health Popul Nutr. 2019;19;38(1):47. doi: 10.1186/s41043-019-0199-8. PubMed PMID: 31856919; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6923861. ##
  16. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Extended BMI-for-age growth charts for very high BMIs; 2022. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/growthcharts/extended-growth-charts.html. ##
  17. Pourabbasi A, Fatemi FS, Tehrani Moghadam M, Yavari H, Seyedhosseini B, Shams AH. Exploring the Underlying Factors for Fast Food Consumption Behavior among Adolescents: A Qualitative Study. Journal of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics. 2019;5(1):19-25. doi: 10.18502/jnsd.v5i1.5231. ##
  18. Deslippe AL, Tugault-Lafleur CN, McGaughey T, Naylor PJ, Mare LL, Mâsse LC. Gender plays a role in adolescents’ dietary behaviors as they transition to secondary school. Appetite. 2021;167:105642. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105642. PubMed PMID: 34375698. ##
  19. Lombardo M, Aulisa G, Padua E, Annino G, Iellamo F, Pratesi A, et al. Gender differences in taste and foods habits. Nutrition & Food Science. 2020;50:229–239. doi: 10.1108/NFS-04-2019-0132. ##
  20. Modlinska K, Adamczyk D, Maison D, Pisula W. Gender differences in attitudes to vegans/vegetarians and their food preferences, and their implications for promoting sustainable dietary patterns-a systematic review. Sustainability. 2020;12(16):6292. doi: 10.3390/su12166292. ##
  21. Wei N, Sun D. Children’s education and parents’ dietary nutrient intake: an empirical study based on rural China. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. 2023;10:336. doi: 10.1057/s41599-023-01793-w. ##
  22. Oliveira L, Raposo A. Factors That Most Influence the Choice for Fast Food in a Sample of Higher Education Students in Portugal. Nutrients. 2024;16(7):1007. doi: 10.3390/nu16071007. ##
  23. Ma L, Fang Z, Gao L, Zhao Y, Xue H, Li K, Wang Y. A 3-year Longitudinal Study of Pocket Money, Eating Behavior, Weight Status: The Childhood Obesity Study in China Mega-Cities. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(23):9139. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17239139. PubMed PMID: 33297510; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7729809. ##
  24. Verstraeten R, Leroy JL, Pieniak Z, Ochoa-Avilès A, Holdsworth M, Verbeke W, et al. Individual and environmental factors influencing adolescents’dietary behavior in low- and middle-income settings. PLoS ONE. 2016;11(7):e0157744. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0157744. PubMed PMID: 27447169; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4957796. ##
  25. Peres C, Gardone D, Mendes L, Costa B, Duarte C, Pessoa M, et al. Retail food environment around schools and overweight: a systematic review. Nutr Rev. 2020;78(10):841–856. doi: 10.1093/nutrit/nuz110. PubMed PMID: 31968100. ##
  26. Azeredo CM, de Rezende LFM, Canella DS, Claro RM, Peres MFT, Luiz O, et al. Food environments in schools and in the immediate vicinity are associated with unhealthy food consumption among Brazilian adolescents. Prev Med. 2016;88:73–9. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2016.03.026. PubMed PMID: 27050024. ##
  27. Fryar CD, Carroll MD, Ahluwalia N, Ogden CL. Fast Food Intake Among Children and Adolescents in the United States, 2015-2018. NCHS Data Brief. 2020;(375):1-8. PubMed PMID: 33054908. ##
  28. Heikkila L, Korpelainen R, Aira T, Alanko L, Heinonen OJ, Kokko S, et al. The associations between adolescents’ sports club participation and dietary habits. Translational Sports Medicine. 2021;4:617–26. doi: 10.1002/tsm2.249. ##
  29. Zasimova L. The association between fast-food consumption and job-related factors among Russian adults. Econ Hum Biol. 2022;46;101147. doi: 10.1016/j.ehb.2022.101147. PubMed PMID: 35569172. ##
  30. Mumena WA, Ateek AA, Alamri RK, Alobaid SA, Alshallali SH, Afifi SY, et al. Fast-Food Consumption, Dietary Quality, and Dietary Intake of Adolescents in Saudi Arabia. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022;19(22):15083. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192215083. PubMed PMID: 36429802; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9690717. ##
  31. French SA, Tangney CC, Crane MM, Wang Y, Appelhans BM. Nutrition quality of food purchases varies by household income: the SHoPPER study. BMC Public Health. 2019;19(1):231. doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-6546-2. PubMed PMID: 30808311; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6390355. ##
  32. Jakobsen DD, Brader L, Bruun JM. Association between Food, Beverages and Overweight/ Obesity in Children and Adolescents-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies. Nutrients. 2023;15(3):764. doi: 10.3390/nu15030764. PubMed PMID: 36771470; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9920526. ##
  33. Bhat VN. Fast Food Consumption and Body Mass Index. Journal of Social Sciences. 2016;12(3):129-135. doi: 10.3844/jssp.2016.129.135. ##
  34. Mirkarimi K, Bagheri D, Honarvar M, Kabir M, Ozouni-Davaji R, Eri M. Effective factors on Fast food consumption among high-school students based on planned behavior theory. J Gorgan Univ Med Sci. 2016;18(4):88-93. Persian. ##
  35. Montero ML, Garrido D, Gallardo RK, Tang J, Ross CF. Consumer Acceptance of a Ready-to-Eat Meal during Storage as Evaluated with a Home-Use Test. Foods. 2021;10(7):1623. doi: 10.3390/foods10071623. PubMed PMID: 34359493; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8303846. ##
  36. Wiatrowski M, Czarniecka-Skubina E, Trafiałek J. Consumer Eating Behavior and Opinions about the Food Safety of Street Food in Poland. Nutrients. 2021;13(2):594. doi: 10.3390/nu13020594. PubMed PMID: 33670190; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7916948. ##
  37. Smigic N, Ozilgen S, Gómez-López VM, Osés SM, Miloradovic Z, Aleksic B, et al. Consumer attitudes and perceptions towards chilled ready-to-eat foods: a multi-national study. J Verbrauch Lebensm. 2023;18(2):133–146. doi: 10.1007/s00003-023-01424-1. PubMed PMID: 37265593; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9994415. ##
International Journal of School Health
Volume 12, Issue 1 - Serial Number 44
January 2025
Pages 3-13
Files
Share
How to cite
Statistics