Assessment of diet quality and its association with nutritional literacy among adolescents aged 10 - 14 years in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Understanding diet quality among adolescents is critical, considering their vulnerability to nutritional deficiencies due to their rapid growth and development. Despite evidence of nutrition literacy gaps in Ethiopia, little is known about how nutrition literacy affects diet quality. Objective: Determining association between diet quality and nutrition literacy among adolescents aged 10-14 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2024. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was conducted using secondary data extracted from a previously conducted study among adolescents aged 10–24 years in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The original data was collected through an interview-based structured questionnaire. This study surveyed 456 adolescents aged 10–14 years. The Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS), which measures diet quality based on risk to Non communicable disease risk (NCD), and the Nutrition Literacy Scale to were used to measure key outcome variables. Logistic regression models were employed to assess the association between nutrition literacy and diet quality, adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics. Results: Among 456 participants, the average total GDQS was 20.92(SD=3.70), with scores that range from 12.25 to 35.75. The mean score for healthy consumption was 6.85(SD=4.27), whereas the mean score for unhealthy food consumption was 12.20 (SD=2.07). Nutrition literacy showed no significant association with diet quality. Maternal university education (AOR = 0.35; p = 0.026) and unemployed maternal occupational status (AOR = 0.41; p = 0.043) were associated with better diet quality. Conclusion and Recommendation: Most adolescents had moderate to low diet quality While, nutrition literacy did not show a significant association to diet quality, factors such as higher maternal educational level and unemployed maternal occupational status were positively associated with good diet quality. These results highlight the importance of addressing broader social determinants alongside nutrition education to enhance adolescent nutritional outcomes effectively.