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Nutrition knowledge and consumption of sugar sweetened beverages among high school students in Kenya.

Mmbaya FK, Waudo J, Mwangi SM, Ngetich E

Diet-related health problems are on the rise as a result of high consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). Nutrition knowledge enables consumers to make informed decisions on the choice of food to eat. There is a paucity of data on the relationship between nutrition knowledge of Kenyan secondary school students and their SSBs consumption behavior. Therefore, this article is based on nutritional knowledge and SSBs consumption of secondary school students. This study employed a descriptive cross-sectional study design among 249 randomly selected students in form three and four respectively. Probability proportion to size sampling technique was utilized to establish the number of respondents in the various schools. Students were randomly selected in each class till the sample size was achieved. A structured questionnaire was utilized to collect data in the selected schools. Data collected were coded and analyzed using Statistics Package for Social Sciences version 21. Chi-square analysis and binary logistic regression analysis were used to process data. Associations were considered significant at p<0.05. Regression analysis established a strong association between nutritional knowledge and SSBs consumption (p=0.02). Consumption of SSBs was found to be high despite moderate level of nutritional knowledge by majority of the students. There is need for restriction of access to SSBs within and around the school environment in order to reduce intake.