FOOD PREFERENCES AND HEALTH RISKS AMONG THE 15-24 AGE YOUTH POPULATION IN OKARA

Abstract

Background: The youth populations Okara is Undergoing significant changes in dietary habits largely due to increasing availability of fast food and changing cultural practices and these changes rise concern about the potential risk associated with poor Nutrition, these included disease like blood pressure, Obesity and Diabetes which adversely affect health The study focuses on the dietary choices made by the youth of Okara and their health consequences as well as quality of life their food choices may construct if we want to save our young Generations we need to share the Awareness of Dietary knowledge with them.

Methods: This was a Quantitative Survey in which we included various educational institutions in Okara, which included people aged 15-24 and our total sample size was 362 Young Peoples. We collected data from people using a Questionnaire that included data on dietary habits, health Perceptions and physical activity levels, we also conducted statistical analysis to examine the relationship between food preference and health Outcomes.

Results: We Included a total of 362 young people in our Study, we included 190 Male and 172 Female in our Study we data from various School Colleges and University between the ages of 15-24 age young people who were part of the Study.  The Result Show that 64.9% of People are eating a lot of fast food, 69.1% Young People are eating those who like home cooked food a lot, 77.1% of People are those who like eat Traditional food and we look at this 57.7 People are those who like Vegetables a lot if we analysis them completely then people are giving preference to fast food a lot, 53.6% who use fast food one to three times a week this is very alarming situation because people are consuming a lot of fast food which increase their chances of getting Disease. 16% were people who had various type of Diseases, 6.6% People were who had blood Pressure problem, 3.6% Percent were people who had diabetes problems and 6.4% were people who had obesity problem. If we analysis the Health Risk there were 18 Female who had blood Pressure and 15 male who had the obesity. People also have a lower tendency to engage in regular physical activity if people do regular physical activity, they won’t have a face this common disease Which is a P-value 0.005 Less than 0.05 so we reject the null Hypothesis (H0) because it is less than 0.05 indicating that dietary choices have a significant effect on risk So we accept the Alternative Hypothesis (H1). The food consumed by the young population of this age has a direct impact on their bodies and causes the diseases in young people. If we want to save them, we need to change their food Prefeence,

Conclusion: Study Highlight urgent need for targeted interventions to promote healthy eating habits among the Okara Youth People, Public health Initiatives should focus on Nutrition’s educations community engagement and policy development changes to reduce the health risk associated with poor dietary practices. By Addressing these issues stakeholder can help improve the overall health and quality of life of youth in Region.