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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health and Nutrition
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1409105

Factors Associated with Diet Quality of Adolescents in Saudi Arabia

Provisionally accepted
Walaa A. Mumena Walaa A. Mumena 1,2*
  • 1 Clinical Nutrition Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia
  • 2 Graduate Studies and Scientific Research, Saudi Electronic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Research exploring factors that may influence the diet quality of adolescents in the Middle East are very limited. We aimed to investigate factors associated with diet quality and the weight status of adolescents in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional study that included 638 healthy adolescents aged between 11-18 years who were randomly recruited from 16 private and public middle- and high-schools located in two Saudi cities (Jeddah and Madinah). All participants were given an envelope for parents to collect socioeconomic data. Diet quality and anthropometric data of adolescents were evaluated at school. Results: Median diet quality score was higher among males compared to female adolescents (10.00 (8.00-11.00) vs. 9.00 (8.00-10.0), respectively, p= 0.018). Median diet quality score was significantly higher among adolescents residing in Jeddah compared to adolescents residing in Madinah (10.00 (9.00-11.0) vs. 9.00 (8.00-10.0), respectively, p= 0.002). Stepwise linear regression analysis indicated that city of residence (B= -0.53, SE= 0.16 [95% CI: -0.83 to -0.22]), and child’s sex (B= -0.34, SE= 0.15 [95% CI: -0.64 to -0.05]) were associated with diet quality scores of adolescents in Saudi Arabia. Discussion: Future longitudinal research should be directed to further investigate other possible factors influencing the diet quality of adolescents and individuals from other age groups in Saudi Arabia.

    Keywords: diet quality, factors, associations, adolescents, Saudi Arabia

    Received: 29 Mar 2024; Accepted: 12 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Mumena. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Walaa A. Mumena, Clinical Nutrition Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.