Nutrition Education Potentially Improves Breakfast Quality of Adolescents from Low-Mid Socioeconomic Background

Background/Aims: Low quality of breakfast has been reported among children and adolescents in Indonesia. This unhealthy eating behavior should be improved and nutrition education is a strategy to promote healthy behavior. This study aimed to evaluate effect of nutrition education intervention on adolescents' breakfast quality. Methods: An intervention study was conducted at four low-ranks public senior high schools in Makassar, Indonesia. Nutrition education intervention was applied for 3 months and it was delivered through a multi-activities strategy (G1) vs. a paper-based strategy (G2). Breakfast consumption data was collected at three sessions using 3-days breakfast recall technique. Breakfast quality was assessed according to individual's score and computed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Paired-t test and chi-square test were used to determine the intra- and inter-group differences in breakfast scores for each session. Results: Breakfast scores did not show significant difference (p > 0.05) between pre- and post-intervention in both groups, although there were slight changes in the values. Mean score significantly improved between pre-intervention and follow-up only in G2 (p = 0.005), however, the score still indicated low quality of breakfast. The number of adolescents having good breakfast increased only at follow-up for G1 (p > 0.05). For G2, there was no significant difference, although there was a slight increase at post-intervention and follow-up. There were no significant differences observed between both groups, both in breakfast scores and in number of adolescents with high quality breakfast. Conclusions: Nutrition education intervention could potentially improve breakfast quality of adolescents from low- and mid-socioeconomic background, however it should be supported with other actions and it requires longer duration to provide long term positive effect.