Original title: Daily unhealthy food purchase and associated factors among adolescents in urban Dire Dawa, eastern Ethiopia: A community-based cross-sectional study
Researchers asked adolescents in urban Dire Dawa how often they bought unhealthy foods. About one in seven said they bought them daily. Daily buying was more common among adolescents reporting greater availability, vendor or peer influence, poor nutrition knowledge, or higher family income. Because the study looked at one point in time, it shows links between these factors, not proof that they caused the purchases.
Imagine choosing a snack while walking home from school. It is harder to choose something nourishing when tempting snacks are easy to find and a seller or friends encourage you to buy them. In this paper, that crowded snack choice stands for the food surroundings and social pressures linked to adolescents buying unhealthy food every day.
The findings point to more than individual choice: nearby food options, vendors, peers, nutrition knowledge, and family income were all linked to daily purchases. For families and people shaping food around schools, that suggests availability and social influence may be important targets, though this study cannot show that changing them would reduce purchases.
Because the study measured factors at one point in time, it cannot establish what caused daily purchases. It omitted sugary beverages and included only adolescents in urban areas, so the findings may not apply to rural settings.
Ask anything about this paper. Answers come from its abstract, and say so when the abstract doesn't cover your question.
Daily unhealthy food purchase and associated factors among adolescents in urban Dire Dawa, eastern Ethiopia: A community-based cross-sectional study — Bira Belay, Alamiya Abdo — PLoS ONE — doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0359580
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.