Assessment of dietary micronutrient deficiency among adolescent girls

Abstract

Micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals play an important role in the promotion of health and prevention of disease. Adolescents are considered to be nutritionally vulnerable segment of the population. The present research study aims to assess the micronutrient deficiency in the diet of adolescent girls. For this purpose, 120 school going adolescent girls in the age range of 13-18 years were selected from the Udaipur city of Rajasthan. The 24-hours dietary recall method was used to collect the data. The dietary micronutrient pattern of the selected girls illustrated deficiency of calcium, iron, zinc, riboflavin, niacin and dietary folate. Moreover, an intake of thiamine and ascorbic acid was meeting 50 per cent to RDA, which was far better than the other micronutrients intake. The findings of the study indicated that more targeted interventions are needed and nutrition education is required to overcome the risk of micronutrient deficiency among adolescent girls.