Meal Skipping Pattern - A Rising Trend Among Youngsters

Abstract

Youngsters especially college students of today's world skips meals regularly due to lack of time or due to many other reasons. But the ill effects of meal skipping starts immediately and continue during adulthood also. Thus this is high time to educate them regarding the importance of consumption all three meals. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the meal skipping pattern of college girls. The study surveyed 500 college going girls from Chennai. A pre tested Interview schedule was used to collect information regarding meal skipping pattern of the girls and the obtained information was subjected to analysis and interpretation. About one-third of the subjects skipped either of the meal. Among them breakfast was skipped by the majority. About 22% skipped breakfast daily, among them 40% consumed their first food of the day during lunch and about 66% reported that they had reduced concentration. About 38% reported that they do not like to carry lunch box to college. About 27% reported dieting as the reason for skipping dinner. Since there is a rise in trend for skipping meals the importance of consumption of all the three meals in a day should be educated to the students to prevent both nutrient deficiencies as well as non-communicable diseases.