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Aim: The aim of the study was to assess food consumption in a group of Roman adolescents in order to compare the energy and nutrient intakes with requirements., Methods: The authors have carried out a food survey on the whole scholastic population of two schools of Rome from 2003 to 2005. Nutritional status of students was assessed by measuring height, weight according to international indications. Food consumption was assessed by food records., Results: Seventy hundred and seventy three subjects (773) 52% males, with an average age of 12.3 + or - 0.9 years were surveyed. The average daily intakes of fruit (128 g), vegetables (161 g), and legumes (12 g) were lower than recommended. The percentage of energy intake from fat (39%) and that from saturated fats (12%) were high. On the other hand, the percentage of energy intake from carbohydrates was low (46%) even if that from saturated fats (12%) was rather high. The students' diet was characterized by low intakes of fibre (16 g), calcium (815 mg) and iron (12 mg) in both males and females., Conclusion: Results indicate that the diet of these students is unbalanced in terms of macronutrients and deficient for some micro-nutrients, suggesting the need for nutrition education policy.

The purpose of the study was to test a nutrition education intervention to promote a higher consumption of vegetables, pulse and fruit among children. The study involved 274 children of primary school (third and fourth grade). The sample was divided in three groups: A (exposed to intervention without taste education activities), B (exposed to intervention with taste education activities), C (control group not exposed to any intervention). Before starting the intervention on pupils, all teachers were properly trained and parents participated to informative/formative meetings. The teachers were also provided with didactic units to implement on children. The efficacy of intervention was evaluated by measuring food target not eaten at school lunch, before and after the implementation of intervention; it showed less plate waste for vegetables (side dishes) for both groups A and B (53.2% vs 44%) and (23.3% vs 8.1%) respectively, while for fruit only group A reduced to half its reject. The differences were however not significant. No increasing consumption was observed for soups or pasta prepared with vegetables or legumes. According to these preliminary results, we observed for some vegetable food items a better dietary behaviour trend among children of both groups who received the intervention compared with controls.

Aim of the study was to detect the prevalence of hypertension among 11-14 years old schoolchildren (n. 487, mean age 12.7 +/- 0.9). The influence on blood pressure (BP) of body mass index (BMI), dietary habits (frequency of breakfast and food items consumption) and life-style was also investigated. Hypertension was defined according to blood pressure tables for children and adolescents of the NIH-Fourth Report (systolic and diastolic BP >95th percentile for age and sex). Overweight and obesity were determined according to the International Obesity Task Force Dietary habits and life-style were investigated by specific questionnaires. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was respectively 31.8% and 10.3% of the subjects studied. Moreover 10.3% of them showed BP values between 90th and 95th percentile and 10.1% was hypertensive. In general the prevalence of overweight (p < 0.05), obesity (p < 0.001) and sedentary activity (p < 0.05) was higher in hypertensive adolescents. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed a direct association between obesity (OR = 4.35; IC 95% = 2.24-8.44), sedentary life-style (OR = 2.38; IC 95% = 1.17-4.63) and hypertension. Food habits were not associated with BP levels. The results confirmed that an increase of cardiovascular risk in early age was correlated with the increase of the prevalence of obesity and sedentary life-style. Regular measurement of BP together with healthy dietary and life-style indications are recommended to overweight/obese children and adolescents.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of overweight/obese and hypertensive roman adolescents belonging to a medium-low social environment. The purpose of this research was also to find out the correlations between high blood pressure and obesity, dietary habits and physical activity., Methods: Nutritional status of 474 subjects (age 12.7+/-0.9 years) of a low-medium social class public school was assessed by measuring height, weight and waist circumference according to international indications. Over-weight and obesity were defined by body mass index (BMI) according to International Obesity Task Force (IOTF). Blood pressure (BP) was measured in duplicate and hypertension was defined by international percentiles. Food habits and lifestyle were investigated by a questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression was used to relate variables., Results: The prevalence of overweight and obese adolescents was respectively 31.7% and 10.3% with a slight higher presence of males in both cases. The whole sample showed a prevalence of hypertension of 10.1%. Systolic and diastolic BP showed a direct association with BMI and waist circumference (P<0.01). BMI and systolic and diastolic BP were lower in active students (>7 h a week of physical activity). Food habits were not associated with hypertension., Conclusions: The high prevalence of hypertensive adolescents could be explained with the consistent number of overweight/obese subjects, their social medium-low context and their being sedentary. As reported in literature, all these factors may contribute to the ''metabolic syndrome'' aetiology.

Aim: The aim of this research was to evaluate the incidence of hypertension in adolescents by assessing their anthropometric measurements and diet, since recent literature data suggest that 30% of obese adolescents are hypertensive., Methods: The 293 schoolchildren engaged in the study were aged 11-14 years and 54% were male. They attended a Secondary School in Rome with a middle-high class background. Blood pressure, heart rate, weight, height, tricipital and subscapular skinfolds and body mass index (BMI) were measured and dietary patterns assessed through 24-h recall. The findings were then statistically evaluated., Results: The incidence of hypertension was 6.5%, without distinction between sexes. On the basis of the statistical evaluation of the correlations between hypertension and obesity, familial hypertension, weaning with the addition of salt and bottle-feeding from birth, only obesity was found to be statistically significant (p<0.001). Even though the hypertensive adolescents had a high intake of snacks, salt, meat, sausages and cheese in their daily diet, only the excess of proteins was statistically significant (p<0.05). The incidence of obesity (calculated as being 20% over the ideal weight for a given height) was 17.3%. This finding was confirmed by the mean value of the both skinfolds, whereas BMI, for which obesity and overweight were considered together, showed a slight overestimation of this percentage., Conclusion: A high number of hypertensive adolescents was found, about 1/3 of the obese adolescents examined. This confirms the findings of an extensive study previously carried out by the Group of Hypertension of the Italian Society of Pediatrics. From a nutritional point of view, the excessive intake of proteins of the 19 hypertensive adolescents was found to be statistically significant. However, a more extensive study could probably provide further data on other nutrients which, in this case, were not quite statistically significant.