Eating Habits and Behaviors, Physical Activity, Nutritional and Food Safety Knowledge and Beliefs in an Adolescent Italian Population

Objective: The present study evaluates eating habits and behaviors, and nutritional and food safety knowledge of a group of Italian adolescents.Design: A dietary questionnaire previously constructed and tested was self-administered during school time. Each section was evaluated using a separate score.Setting: The study was carried out as a part of a nutritional surveillance project in the Aosta Valley Region, Northern Italy.Subjects: Five hundred and thirty-two adolescent subjects, aged 15.4 ± 0.7 years, attending the second year of secondary schools participated in the study.Measures: We evaluated eating habits, physical activity, meaning of healthy and unhealthy dietary habits and food, self-efficacy, barriers affecting healthy food choices, nutritional and food safety, weight, height, Body Mass Index (BMI).Results: Only 37.0% of the sample have satisfactory eating habits; 18.5% have a very active lifestyle; only 8.6% have quite good nutritional knowledge, 2.4% have satisfactory food safety knowledge, a...