Comparative Analysis of Energy Consumption (kcal) among Publicand Private Secondary School Students in Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

Objective: To describe pattern of dietary energy intake among adolescents from 2021-2022.

Design: Cohort study, with students in Public Secondary Schools (PuSS) and Private Secondary Schools (PrSS) in Lagos, Nigeria.

Subjects/Setting: A total of 565 male and female secondary school students, Black Africans, with heterogenous ethnic background who were aged 10 to 19 years and who lived in the 3 Senatorial Districts of Lagos State.

Methods: A multistage sampling technique was used to select 565 study subjects consisting of 214 boys and 351 girls from sixteen mixed and non-boarding secondary schools. The subjects were further stratified into early-stage (11-14 years), mid-stage (15-17 years) and late-stage (18-19 years) adolescents. Daily energy consumption was estimated by factorial method, body composition by anthropometry and energy intake by average of a 3-day 24-hour dietary recall.

Statistical Analyses: Data were summarized as means and standard deviation unless otherwise stated. Differences in values between groups were analyzed for significance using paired t tests and multiple regression. NCSS software was used for data analysis.

Results: The study subjects consisted of 62% females and 38% males, including approximately 49%, 33%, and 18% in early-, mid-, and late-stage adolescence. In early-stage adolescence (ESA), girls (n=174, 63.0%, 46.5±11.7 kg) were significantly heavier (t-test=-2.75, P-value=0.006) than boys (n=102, 37.0%; 42.7±10.7 kg), but in mid-stage adolescence (MSA) (n=74, 39.4%; 1.61±0.12) boyes were significantly taller (t-test=-2.74, P-value=0.007) than girls (n=114, 60.6%; 1.57±0.08). Roughly 17% of the study subjects were undernourished while 72.6%, 5.3% and 5.5 % were healthy, overweight, and obese respectively. The lowest (1928.9±816.5) and the highest (2409.2±787.5) mean daily energy (Kcal) consumed was by subjects with BMI-for-age percentiles 95% (obese) respectively (t-test=2.92, P-value=0.005). Mean daily energy consumption (Kcal) by PuSS students (2089.3±898.7) was significantly higher (t-test=2.00, P-value=0.047) than that among PrSS students (1920.8±813.6) though it was evenly distributed (t-test=1.00, P-value=0.32 and t-test=1.69, P-value=0.09) among males in PuSS (2073.3±955.3) and in PrSS (1944.9±805.3) and among females in PuSS (2097.9±868.4) and females in PrSS (1898.2±827.0) respectively. Multivariate regression analysis shows significant and marginally significant variations, respectively between energy consumption and BMI-for-age percentile on one hand (t-statistic=2.24, P-value=0.03) and both schools on the other (t-statistic=1.96, P-value=0.05).

Conclusions: These data suggest a moderate level of undernutrition among adolescents in Nigerian secondary schools. Obesity was more prevalent in Public than in Private Secondary Schools. Mean energy consumption was highest among obese students, in early-stage adolescence and in Public Secondary schools. Energy consumption was significantly associated positively with BMI-for-age percentile and type of school.