EATING HABITS OF MALE ADOLESCENTS IN RELATION TO BMI-FOR-AGE AND PLACE OF RESIDENCE

Introduction: It has been proven that girls have better eating habits, and therefore the aim was to assess dietary behavior of boys, taking into account BMI-for-age and place of residence observed as urban or rural, in the Canton of Sarajevo. Material (participants) and methods: The study included 60 adolescent boys from rural and 264 from urban areas of the Canton of Sarajevo, aged 13-15. Methods that were used: anthropometric measurements (measurement of body weight and body height in order to calculate the BMI-for-age percentile) and a purpose-designed questionnaire about eating habits by which eating pattern was graded as proper or improper. Data were statistically analyzed by using SPSS 13.0 programme. Results: The majority of participants were normal weighted (urban vs. rural 58.30%:70.00%), followed by overweight (urban vs. rural 24.20% 20.00%) and obese (urban vs. rural 14.40%:10.00%). Category of underweight was only present in adolescents from urban areas with 3.00%. Statistical significance of adolescents' nutritional status from urban areas was found for the number of daily meals (p=0.039), regular consumption of breakfast (p=0.009), diverse diet (p=0.049) and consumption of snacks (p=0.037). In adolescents from rural areas, the statistical significance was found between their nutritional status and consumption of carbohydrate foods (p=0.024). Conclusion: Although no statistical significance of BMI-for-age in relation to the place of residence was found, higher percentage of adolescents from rural areas have normal weight, while both groups have high percentage of overweight. Eating habits need to be studied further, with additional factors to examine in the default settings.