A comparative study of knowledge and perception among school going adolescents regarding various food habits and prevalence of overweight and obesity in government and private schools in Mangalore

India is in the midst of a rapidly escalating ‘epidemic’ of Type II Diabetes and Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). Presently, India has more diabetic patients than any other country in the world, and it is predicted that CHD will soon become the leading cause of death in our country. Today Indians are at high risk for insulin resistance and central obesity, both forerunners of diabetes, CHD and other ‘life style’ disorders. It is now emerging convincingly that these disorders begin in childhood and manifest due to interactions and accumulation of various risk factors, throughout the life course. Pediatricians, therefore, have an important role in the prevention and control of the ‘epidemic’. It is indeed ironic that a problem of “plenty†viz., childhood obesity, has emerged while we are still fighting undernutrition and infectious disease. Childhood obesity was thought to be a problem of developed world but now it’s prevalence in developing countries is on the rise. There has been an increased intake of energy-dense foods that are high in fat, salt and sugars(HFSS).