Introduction: Nutrition, particularly when too sweet or too fatty, is a major determinant of chronic diseases. This study aims to determine the frequency and associate factors of the excessive consumption of sweet drinks and fried food among secondary school pupils. Methods: It is cross-sectional study which was conducted from March to April 2016 among 1st, 4th and 7th form pupils of public and private schools in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso. Nutritional investigation methods consisted in a reminder of the last 24 hours associated with a questionnaire on food consumption frequency. Excessive consumption of sweet drinks was defined as a consumption of more than 3 sweet drinks (soda) or sugary juice per day ( ~ 33 cl × 3); and excessive consumption of fried food as a consump tion of more than 1 intake of fried food per day. Results: In total, 1993 pupils were interviewed. The mean age was 17.5 ± 3.6 years and sex-ratio 0.7. Excessive consumption of sweet drinks and fried food was recorded in 12.7% (n = 253) and 28.2% (n = 561) of pupils, respectively. The factors associated with excessive consumption of sweet drinks were: sex/female, sedentarily, desire to gain weight, lean or normal corpulence of the mother and breakfast intake; those associated with excessive consumption of fried food were: sex/female, being in 1st or 4th form, physical exercise practice and breakfast intake. But the fact to attend a private secondary school, to have a mother of normal corpulence and a concordance between self-image and actual weight status, were protective against excessive consumption of fried foods. Conclusion: This study has displayed prominently the fact that eating too sweet and too fatty concerned respectively 1/10 and 3/10 of pupils in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso. The main modifiable factors of these eating habits included the level of education, the composition of breakfast and the influence of mothers. An intervention program in the form of a Communication for Continuous Behavioral Change intended for pupils and their mothers could help to improve this situation.
The determinants of diet are of two kinds: individual determinants and collective determinants [
This was a cross-sectional analytical study, which took place from March to April 2016, among 1st, 4th and 7th form pupils of public and private schools in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso. The calculation parameters of the sample were as follows: prevalence 8% (prevalence of overweight/obesity in the schools of Burkina Faso [
Food survey methods were a reminder of the last 24 hours associated with the questionnaire on consumption frequency. Excessive consumption of sweet drinks was defined as a consumption of more than 3 sweet drinks (soda) or sugary juice per day (~33 cl − 3); and excessive consumption of fried food as a consumption of more than one ration of fried food/food cooked in oil per day [
Through logistic regression method, individual sociodemographic and clinical factors, significantly associated with the excessive consumption of sweet drinks and fried foods, with a significance level of 5% were identified.
A total of 1993 pupils, distributed as follows, were interviewed: 649 in 1st form, 673 in 4th form and 671 in 7th form.
The mean age of the pupils was 17.5 ± 3.6. The mean age per class group was 13.6 ± 1.5 years for the 1st form, 17.5 ± 1.8 years for the 4th form, and 21.3 ± 2.0 years for the 7th form.
More than half of the pupils were female, 56.6% (n = 1128), or a sex ratio of 0.8.
Among pupils’ parents, 37.9% of fathers were stoutly built against 45.6% of mothers.
The prevalence of overweight was 7.3% (n = 146), of which 5.9% of overweight and 1.4% of obese. Pupils’ self-image of their actual body size was concordant in 46.0% of cases (n = 916).
The number of pupils with a sedentary behavior (i.e. more than 2 hours per day sitting in front of a screen: television, phone, video games, etc.) was 419, that is a frequency of 21.0%; this frequency was comparable between girls (21.3%) and boys (20.7%), p = 0.8.
Half of the students, that is 51.0% (n = 1017), were practicing a regular physical activity apart from school physical education and sports program.
Among the respondents, 47.0% (n = 590) had a good knowledge of obesity and its risks, while 11.5% (n = 229) wanted to get fatter.
The excessive consumption of sweet drinks concerned 253 pupils that is 12.7%. After a multivariate analysis, the factors independently associated with this excessive consumption were female sex, sedentary lifestyle, desire to gain weight, lean or normal corpulence of mothers, and lunch intake (
The excessive consumption of fried foods concerned about 561 pupils or 28.2%.
| Factor | Excessive consumption of sugary drinks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n (%) | Brut OR (CI95%) | p | Ajusted OR (CI95%) | p | |
| Sex | 3 × 10−3 | 0.013 | |||
| Boys | 88 (10.17) | 1 | 1 | ||
| Girls | 165 (14.63) | 1.5 (1.14 - 1.99) | 1.44 (1.08 - 1.93) | ||
| School | 0.840 | ||||
| Public | 112(12.53) | 1 | |||
| Private | 141 (12.83) | 1.0 (0.79 - 1.34) | |||
| Form | 2 × 10−4 | 0.051 | |||
| 1st | 106 (16.33) | 2.0 (1.44 - 2.84) | 1.59 (1.09 - 2.31) | ||
| 4th | 88 (13.08) | 1.5 (1.10 - 2.21) | 1.32 (0.92 - 1.91) | ||
| 7th | 59 (8.79) | 1 | |||
| BMI | 0.588 | ||||
| Overweight/obesity | 14(11.38) | 1 | |||
| Thin | 82 (13.83) | 0.9 (0.65 - 1.16) | |||
| Normal | 157 (12.29) | 0.8 (0.44 - 1.46) | |||
| Exercice | 3 × 10−3 | 2 × 10−3 | |||
| Yes | 71(16.95) | 1 | 1 | ||
| No | 182 (11.56) | 1.6 (1.2 - 2.1) | 1.6 (1.2 - 2.2) | ||
| ObesityKnowledge | 0.701 | ||||
| Bad | 81 (12.16) | 1 | |||
| Good | 76 (12.88) | 1.1 (0.8 - 1.5) | |||
| Desire of weight gain | 4 × 10−3 | 0.020 | |||
| No | 210 (11.91) | 1 | 1 | ||
| Yes | 43 (18.78) | 1.70 (1.19 - 2.45) | 1.6 (1.1 - 2.3) | ||
| Mother’sbuild | 4 × 10−−4 | 0.025 | |||
| Overweight/obesity | 72 (9.28) | 1 | 1 | ||
| Thin | 128 (14.27) | 1.6 (1.2 - 2.2) | 1.4 (1.1 - 1.9) | ||
| Normal | 51 (17.41) | 2.1 (1.4 - 3.0) | 1.7 (1.1 - 2.5) | ||
| Father’sbuild | 0.156 | 0.812 | |||
| Overweight/obesity | 113 (11.33) | 1 | 1 | ||
| Thin | 101 (13.67) | 1.2 (0.9 - 1.7) | 1.1 (0.8 - 1.5) | ||
| Normal | 33 (15.42) | 1.4 (0.9 - 2.2) | 1.0 (0.7 - 1.6) | ||
| Self-image vs weight status | 0.166 | 0.990 | |||
| No concordance | 147 (13.65) | 1 | 1 | ||
| Concordance | 106 (11.57) | 0.83 (0.63 - 1.08) | 1.0 (0.7 - 1.3) | ||
| Breakfeastintake | 10−3 | 3 × 10−3 | |||
| No | 69 (9.43) | 1 | 1 | ||
| Yes | 184 (14.60) | 1.6 (1.25 - 2.20) | 1.6 (1.2 - 2.1) | ||
Females, being in 1st form or 4th form, physical activity and breakfast intake were independently associated with this excessive consumption.
On the other hand, the fact to attend a private secondary school, to have a mother of normal corpulence and a concordance between self-image and actual weight status, were protective against excessive consumption of fried foods (
The purpose of this study was to illuminate the individual behaviors of pupils in order to draw lessons for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Thus, the collective determinants of food behavior (environmental, social, and economic) that go beyond the scope of our study have not been addressed. However, their place is fundamental in a comprehensive prevention program.
Among the pupils, 12.7% consumed sweet drinks in excess. Daboné reported in 2011, a consumption of “unnecessary” food in the form of sweet things in 18.3% of schoolchildren in Ouagadougou [
In our study, girls consumed significantly more sweet drinks than boys. But HBSC survey reported a male predominance [
The consumption of fried foods was excessive in 28.2% of cases. Allam found a frequency of 15% among Algerian pupils [
The main modifiable factors associated with these long-term harmful consumptions were breakfast intake, level of education and, indirectly, the influence of mothers.
It is recognized that the family is very important for children’s food choices and eating habits [
| Factors | Excessive consumption of fried foods | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n(%) | Brut OR (CI 95%) | p | Ajusted OR (CI 95%) | p | |
| Sex | 10−3 | 2 × 10−3 | |||
| Boys | 209 (24.16) | 1 | 1 | ||
| Girls | 352 (31.21) | 1.42 (1.16 - 1.74) | 1.68 (1.20 - 2.34) | ||
| School | 0.019 | 0.020 | |||
| Public | 275 (30.76) | 1 | 1 | ||
| Private | 286 (26.02) | 0 .79 (0.65 - 0.96) | 0.73 (0.55 - 0.95) | ||
| Form | 10−4 | 10−4 | |||
| 1st | 263 (40.52) | 3.55 (2.74 - 4.60) | 2.97 (1.83 - 4.79) | ||
| 4th | 190 (28.23) | 2.05 (1.57 - 2.67) | 1.69 (1.15 - 2.49) | ||
| 7th | 108 (16.10) | 1 | 1 | ||
| BMI | 0.004 | 0.894 | |||
| Overweight/obesity | 32 (26.02) | 1 | 1 | ||
| Thin | 197 (33.22) | 0.71 (0.57 - 0.87) | 1.07 (0.78 - 1.47) | ||
| Normal | 332 (26.00) | 0.71 (0.46 - 1.09) | 1.01 (0.57 - 1.80) | ||
| Exercice | 10−3 | 0.043 | |||
| Yes | 241 (24.69) | 1 | 1 | ||
| No | 320 (31.47) | 1.40 (1.15 - 1.70) | 1.39 (1.01 - 1.91) | ||
| ObesityKnowledge | 10−3 | 0.278 | |||
| Bad | 207 (31.08) | 1 | 1 | ||
| Good | 135 (22.88) | 0.66 (0.51 - 0.85) | 1.21 (0.86 - 1.70) | ||
| Desire of weight gain | 0.380 | ||||
| No | 490 (27.79) | 1 | |||
| Yes | 70 (30.57) | 1.14 (0.85 - 1.54) | |||
| Mother’sbuild | 10−4 | 0.005 | |||
| Overweight/obesity | 168 (21.65) | 1 | 1 | ||
| Thin | 283 (31.55) | 1.19 (0.90 - 1.57) | 1.19 (0.82 - 1.73) | ||
| Normal | 104 (35.49) | 0.59 (0.48 - 0.75) | 0.66 (0.49 - 0.89) | ||
| Father’sbuild | 0.008 | 0.559 | |||
| Overweight/obesity | 267 (26.78) | 1 | 1 | ||
| Thin | 208 (28.15) | 1.52 (1.11 - 2.09) | 1.02 (0.65 - 1.58) | ||
| Normal | 80 (37.38) | 0.93 (0.75 - 1.15) | 1.17 (0.87 - 1.56) | ||
| Self-image vs weight status | <10−3 | 0.010 | |||
| No concordance | 348 (32.31) | 1 | 1 | ||
| Concordance | 213 (23.25) | 0.63 (0.52 - 0.77) | 0.68 (0.51 - 0.91) | ||
| Breakfeastintake | 10−3 | 0.004 | |||
| No | 173 (23.63) | 1 | 1 | ||
| Yes | 388 (30.79) | 1.44 (1.16 - 1.77) | 1.53 (1.15 - 2.03) | ||
positively associated with the risk of child obesity [
All of these factors can be changed through an effective communication for a behavioral change. The link with pupils’ level of education, both for sweet drinks (even at the limit of statistical significance) and fried foods, challenges the content of education; as a matter of fact, sufficient place should be given to courses on NTDs as part of the teaching of Life and Earth Sciences in secondary schools. That is why, in response to the growing burden of NTDs, the Global Strategy for Diet, Physical Exercise and Health adopted by World Health Assembly since 2004, among other measures, calls on Member States to develop and implement school policies and programs aiming to promote a healthy diet and to increase physical exercise [
This study has displayed prominently the fact that eating too sweet and too fatty concerned respectively 1/10 and 3/10 of pupils in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso. The main modifiable factors of these eating habits included the level of education, the composition of breakfast and the influence of mothers. An intervention program in the form of a Communication for Continuous Behavioral Change intended for pupils and their mothers, as well as a review of Life and Earth Sciences Curriculum, in order to give sufficient place to NTDs, would help to improve this situation.
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Yaméogo, T.M., Tapsoba, M.M.D., Kissou, A.S.-L., Coulibali, B., Sombié, I., Kyelem, C.G., Ilboudo, A., Guira, O., Lankoandé, D., Bagbila, A., Birba, M., Ouédraogo, M.S. and Drabo, Y.J. (2018) Too Sweet/Too Fatty Food Consumption: Determinants among Secondary School Pupils in the City of Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso). Open Journal of Pediatrics, 8, 126-133. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojped.2018.82015