ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To describe the nutritional aversions and preferences of 14-18 years old adolescents schooled at Santander and analyze the changes taking place within the last decade. SUBJECTS: A cross-sectional study was carried out analyzing a sample of 1134 adolescents: 549 males (48.4%, 95% CI: 45.5%-5.3%) and 585 females (5.6%, 95% CI: 48.7%-54.5%), ages comprised between 14 and 18 years, and schooled at centers of secondary educational level from Santander, by means of a questionnaire. RESULTS: vegetables (54.7%) and legumes (18.7%) represent the main nutritional aversions of adolescents. On the other hand, grains (53.3%) and meats (14.6%) are the preferred foods. Lentils, lettuce, strawberry, water, and pasta generally were the best-valued foods within the groups of foods and drinks to which they belong. CONCLUSION: nutritional aversions and preferences of adolescents from Santander generally are very similar to those observed in other studies and we have not observed important changes within the last decade. The data obtained may be useful to observe future trends on nutritional preferences that, together with other parameters, may help characterized the nutritional behavior of our adolescents.
