Bread consumption among adolescents

Adolescence period is the most important period for people to gain proper nutritional habits. Although in our country bread consumption rate is very high, the number of researches about that issue is very limited. Therefore, this research was conducted in Araklı, Trabzon on 411 adolescent learners for examining the bread consumption in adolescence period and the reasons which affect bread consumption in this period. In this survey, a questionnaire form was applied to collect data. Likert scale and attitude scale was used to determine the contributing causes affecting bread consumption. Students were asked to draw a picture which shows what bread mean to them. Persentile values were calculated by using BIA (Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis) device. According to the persentile values, adolescents are ,to a large extend, medium weight. It has been determined that male students consume more bread than female ones. It has also been detected that bread is most consumed at suppertime by the students who are at the age of 12 and under. When compared to the bread consumption in terms of gender, it has been ascertained that especially at dinnertime male students consume more bread. In terms of gender, the relationship between the bread consumption cases at dinnertime has been found statistically significant. Mean value of total bread consumption among female students is 260,66g and among male students 283,37g. It has been found out that bread is consumed the least as a snack by 13-year-old students. The most preffered bread type is white bread. Corn bread follows the white bread and whole-wheat bread is in the third place. Most of the students consume bread with soup, stew and salad. In terms of age and gender, majority of the students regard bread as a kind of meal. Both male and female students count consuming bread as a necessity and bread is defined as a meal and health. Both male and female students count consuming bread as a necessity and bread is defined as a meal and health. The most important factor that affects the attitude towards bread is enjoying bread consumption and second most important one is regarding bread consumption as a need. Students should be educated about nutritional value of bread, and the place and importance of bread in healthy diet.