A study of macro nutrients status among adolescent school boys of Delhi

The physical well-being of an individual is related closely to his status of nutrition. Good nutrition is essential in childhood for optimal growth and performance in school. Under nutrition retards physical and mental growth which in turn, lowers efficiency in education and work. So, nutrition is one of the most important factors in the vital activity of man. Macro nutrients i.e. proteins, carbohydrates and fats are the most important nutrients required by the body and should be supplied in adequate amounts in the diet. The main objective of the study was to determine the macro nutrients status among government and private school boys of Delhi. The study was conducted on 700 adolescent boys of govt. and private schools. Out of which 350 children were taken from government schools and 350 from private schools. For obtaining the data on dietary intake i.e., One day recall method recommended by Norris(1949), ICMR (1951), Acheson et al. (1980), Chawla, (1992), was used. The researcher found that the macro nutrients status was found higher in both govt. and private schools than ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) recommendation. Macro nutrient status was found higher in private school boys in comparison of govt. school boys. As a preventive measure it is strongly suggested that these growing boys rationalize their fat intake.