Abstract
Objective: To describe food habits and dietary intakes of athletic and non-athletic adolescents in Switzerland.
Setting: College, high schools and professional centers in the Swiss canton of Vaud.
Method: A total of 3540 subjects aged 9–19 y answered a self-reported anonymous questionnaire to assess lifestyles, physical plus sports activity and food habits. Within this sample, a subgroup of 246 subjects aged 11–15 also participated in an in-depth ancillary study including a 3 day dietary record completed by an interview with a dietician.
Results: More boys than girls reported engaging in regular sports activities (P<0.001). Adolescent food habits are quite traditional: up to 15 y, most of the respondents have a breakfast and eat at least two hot meals a day, the percentages decreasing thereafter. Snacking is widespread among adolescents (60–80% in the morning, 80–90% in the afternoon). Food habits among athletic adolescents are healthier and also are perceived as such in a higher proportion. Among athletic adolescents, consumption frequency is higher for dairy products and ready to eat (RTE) cereals, for fruit, fruit juices and salad (P<0.05 at least). Thus the athletic adolescent’s food brings more micronutrients than the diet of their non-athletic counterparts. Within the subgroup (ancillary study), mean energy intake corresponds to requirements for age/gender group.
Conclusions: Athletic adolescents display healthier food habits than non-athletic adolescents: this result supports the idea that healthy behavior tends to cluster and suggests that prevention programs among this age group should target simultaneously both sports activity and food habits.
Sponsorship: Service of Sports and Physical Education of the Swiss canton of Vaud, Federal Sports School of Macolin (Switzerland).
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2000) 54, Suppl 1, S16–S20
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Guarantor: C Cavadini.
Contributors: CC was the designer and main investigator of the nutritional survey, responsible for fieldwork and for data analysis. BD designed the nutritional survey and was involved in fieldwork and data analysis. JG was involved in fieldwork and data analysis of the nutritional survey. FN designed the main study, and carried out data analysis. P-AM was director of and designed the main study, and was the main investigator.
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Cavadini, C., Decarli, B., Grin, J. et al. Food habits and sport activity during adolescence: differences between athletic and non-athletic teenagers in Switzerland. Eur J Clin Nutr 54 (Suppl 1), S16–S20 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1600979
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1600979
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