Comportement alimentaire d'une population d'adolescents scolarisés au niveau de la commune de Constantine.

Abstract

The human food behavior is the subject of an abundant scientific literature. Its impact on the health of the man was proven by several studies in the world. In Algeria, there exists very little of studies published on this subject. Our objective is to describe the food behavior of the teenagers according to three parameters : the sex, the age and the socio economic level (SEL). Our work is a qualitative study carried out by transverse investigation of CAP type. The population targets is composed of 313 teenagers old from 10 to 19 years provided education in five average and secondary establishments of the commune of Constantine during the year of 2006. The working tool is a questionnaire which we prepared out in order to be able to collect a maximum of information on the food behavior of the studied population. The questionnaire was translated into Arabic to facilitate his comprehension. The investigation was carried out by questionnement direct of the teenagers in there school establishments. The questions were explained one by one in order to facilitate their comprehension. The seizure and the treatment of the questionnaires were carried out by the software Epi-Info(version 6.0). We established a socio economic score of classification in order to be able to interpret the food behavior according to this determining decisive factor. The results obtained highlighted the presence of specific behaviors related to the sex, at the age and with the SEL. the food of the surveyed teenagers is characterized by a strong consumption of the starch products, low fuel consumption of vegetables and fruits and a consumption of the livestock products protidic which increases with the SEL. The breakfast is the meal more neglected. This negligence increases with the age. More than one teenager out of three jumps it systematically. The morning collation and to taste it after midday is very popular to the teenagers. They consist of products with high energy density. The nibbling of food with strong contents of glucides and lipids (sugar refineries, chips) is very practiced especially the evening and in front of television. It seems that the food behavior of the Algerian teenagers is not very different from that of the teenagers of the industrialized countries. Indeed, it reproduces the same errors. It is necessary in Algeria that studies are carried out for better knowing the situation of the teenagers in order to set up an adapted prevention. In this direction, programs of nutritional education must be developed within the school establishments.