Title: Evaluation of diet quality of Egyptian adolescents using healthy eating index

Authors: Nebal Abdel Rahman Aboul Ella, Mervat Ahmed Ismail, Wafaa Mohamed Abo El-Makarem Saleh, Asmaa Mahmoud Abdulla

Addresses: National Nutrition Institute, 16 Kaser El Aini Street, Cairo 12411, Egypt. ' National Nutrition Institute, 16 Kaser El Aini Street, Cairo 12411, Egypt. ' National Nutrition Institute, 16 Kaser El Aini Street, Cairo 12411, Egypt. ' National Nutrition Institute, 16 Kaser El Aini Street, Cairo 12411, Egypt

Abstract: The aim of this study is to use the healthy eating index (HEI) to assess the diet quality of a representative sample of the Egyptian children and adolescents. HEI of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) was applied with slight modifications to measure how well the studied Egyptian students| diet conforms to recommended healthy eating pattern. Our results showed that the average HEI score was 59.1 out of a possible 100 and it ranged from 20 to 86, only 0.5% of the students had HEI scores above 80; while 16.9%of them received scores below 50 and the majority (82.5%) had scores on the HEI between 51 and 80. In conclusion, the majority of Egyptian children and adolescents| eating patterns, as measured by the HEI, need improvement. The results of the index are useful in targeting nutrition education and health promotion activities.

Keywords: dietary evaluation; diet quality; HEI; healthy eating index; adolescents; Egypt; children; eating patterns; nutrition education; health promotion.

DOI: 10.1504/IJFSNPH.2009.029280

International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health, 2009 Vol.2 No.2, pp.145 - 157

Published online: 18 Nov 2009 *

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