Administration of a Food Frequency Questionnaire to Elicit the Dietary Advanced Glycation End Product Consumption of Obese Adolescents aged 10-19 Years in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Dietary Advanced glycation end products are compounds formed by a non-enzymatic reaction between reactive carbonyls and proteins which occur during the thermal processing of foods contributing to the pathogenesis of metabolic diseases. Adolescents are the primary consumers of dietary AGE due to the excessive consumption of junk and processed foods. This study aimed to quantify the dietary AGE consumption among obese adolescents in the age group of 10-19 years by employing a validated FFQ. Fifty obese adolescents with a BMI (≥27kg/m2) without any comorbidities were recruited in the study. A previously validated food frequency questionnaire was employed to determine the AGE content among the adolescents. The mean age of the participants was 14±2.7years, the mean weight was 75.5 ±9.49kg, the mean height was 155.5± 10.2cm and the mean BMI was 30± 1.87kg/m2. Ninety-eight percent of the study participants belonged to the upper-lower-income category. 51% of adolescents had a daily consumption of packaged foods namely Biscuits, Maggi, Chocolate, Chips, Pasta, Noodles, Cereals, and Butter. Ice cream was the most frequently consumed item. The daily mean Dage intake among obese adolescents was 18,647.5 ±2826 KU. Majority of the adolescents belonged to the low dietary AGE intake quartile (16,605.5KU) which surpassed the daily mean AGE intake (15,000KU) among adults. A significant correlation (p-value <0.05) between moderate and high Dage quartile and BMI-for-Age was observed. Out of 54 food items, 19 food items showed a significant correlation with either BMI-for-age or waist-to-hip ratio. Obese Adolescents had a high daily AGE intake, with an enormous consumption of junk and processed foods thereby putting them at risk of developing metabolic complications in the future.