Lifestyle, dietary pattern and nutritional knowledge of
Mauritian adolescents.
Prity Pugo Gunsam* and Raksha Dwarika
*Department of Health Sciences, University of Mauritius
Over the last twenty five years, together with the growing influence of industrialization,
technology and change in lifestyle, the dietary habits of Mauritians have also altered; such that
it is influencing the disease pattern which is now following that of developed countries with
increasing obesity, diabetes, coronary heart diseases and renal diseases. Besides infancy,
adolescence is the fastest growth stage in the life cycle. Although genetic factors undeniably
influence the growth of the adolescent to a certain extent, nutritional intake also has a
significant effect. Adolescence is a period where youngsters start to make their own food
choices and the eating habits they adopt most probably persist into adulthood; they should be
guided properly about their food intake so as to avoid any health problems later in life. They
were thus chosen as the study population, in order to make appropriate nutritional
recommendations at this crucial stage of the life of an individual. Investigating the eating habits
of late adolescents was of primary importance in the study as it is a reflection about the dietary
pattern the respondents would most probably adopt in the years to come.
In order to tailor nutritional recommendations most efficiently, a survey was first administered
to multiethnic adolescents (n=50) of diverse socioeconomic status coming from both rural and
urban areas to study (i) their lifestyle (ii) their dietary pattern and (iii) their nutritional
knowledge.
The multiethnic population of the island originating from China, India, Africa and Europe has
elaborated a blend of their specific traditional diets to produce the “Mauritian cuisine” which is
consumed by all. Our results showed that the adolescents were largely non-vegetarian (88%
vs.12% vegetarian). Those who were vegetarians claimed that their choice was mainly due to
personal reasons, followed by ethical reasons (33%) and lastly for health reasons (17%). Most
of the adolescent population (84%) acknowledged that they practiced physical activity primarily
to stay in good health. As for their dietary pattern, majority of subjects (70%) admitted
skipping breakfast because of lack of time, but claimed to have lunch more regularly (92%) and
always had dinner; they preferred salty foods vs. sweet foods, and snacks available in the home
were healthy ones. A majority of the adolescents brought packed lunch to school and a minority
ate away from home. The home environment was also an important factor in determining the
eating habit of the adolescent. The adolescents reported that the most commonly found food
item at home was “fruits” (74%); followed by “Junk food” (that is potato crisp, soft drinks)
(58%); and “Dairy products” (50%). The availability of fruits at home suggests that parents can
in a way control their children dietary intake and also seem to be conscious of the fact that
consuming fruits is a healthy aspect of diet.The assessment of nutritional knowledge of the
study sample was found to be adequate, as 94% of individuals agreed that a balanced diet must
be consumed everyday and 90% also seemed to be knowledgeable about the constituents of
such a diet. However, this did not seem to be applicable in practice as breakfast was not given
the importance it deserved. Weight control was perceived as being very important by 54% of
the respondents. Body image and weight control were important for the whole group of
adolescent surveyed.
Monitoring the adolescents’ diets through several studies may help to assess the success of
public health messages, but it appears that future research focus should be lain on quantitative
food studies to determine whether the nutrient requirements are effectively met by this
population; and also studies need to be conducted to identify how nutrition information must be
tailored and presented in order to be more effective and to be adhered to.
Keywords: Adolescents, dietary pattern, nutritional knowledge