Dietary practices and nutritional awareness among adolescent girls: A comparative study

Adolescence is the transitional period between childhood and adulthood, representing a critical window of opportunity to improve nutritional status and address poor dietary habits. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines an adolescent as any person between the ages of 10 and 19. The present study was conducted to assess the dietary practices and nutritional awareness of urban and rural adolescent girls in Ropar district, Punjab. Findings revealed that, compared to their urban counterparts, rural adolescent girls consumed fewer green leafy vegetables and fruits. A majority (77%) of rural adolescent girls demonstrated moderate nutritional awareness, whereas the majority (53%) of urban adolescent girls exhibited a high level of nutritional awareness. The study faced challenges such as gathering accurate self-reported information from adolescents and aligning research activities around school schedules. The research contributes by distinctly comparing urban and rural girls, highlighting dietary gaps and awareness differences, and providing evidence to design targeted, school-based nutrition education programs to improve dietary practices and foster long-term health benefits among adolescents.