ABSTRACT
To assess nutritional status of adolescents (10-12 years) from non government funded schools (private) of Gujarat, India. Teachers & parents of adolescent children were assessed regarding their knowledge, attitude and practices of healthy dietary & lifestyle behaviours. School canteen services were also critically evaluated. Parent’s willingness, to start a nutrition program in the school was also assessed. A cross sectional study was conducted on adolescents (10-12 years) from two selected private schools. Anthropometric, biophysical and hemoglobin estimations were done on all children. Lipid and glucose profile was conducted only on over weight (including obese) children. Results reveal that canteen offered unhealthy food. Teachers and parents had insufficient knowledge about healthy behaviors. Most (53.5%) of the parents agreed to the changes proposed for canteen menus. About 3/4th of the subjects were malnourished (78.9%), with more (53.7%) being under weight than over weight and obese (25.2%). Similarly, more than half (55.1%) of the subjects were anemic. Central obesity as indicated by WHtR & WC was 21.6% and 9.0% respectively. The burden of sub optimal blood pressure was very high (26.3%) among adolescents (Pre hypertension 13.7% and hypertension 12.6%). Hence, malnutrition along with anemia and high blood pressure were significant problems in private schools. Schools being the best setting to approach adolescents and parents, multi disciplinary programs should be part of school policies to prevent and manage triple burden of malnutrition and its adverse consequences among the adolescents from private schools.