DIETARY HABITS OF PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN OWERRI MUNICIPAL, IMO STATE.

Abstract The purpose of the study was to assess the dietary habit of public secondary school students in Owerri Municipal, Imo State. The study was school based cross sectional descriptive design carried out amongst 240 randomly selected Secondary School Students in Owerri Imo State. four specific objective alongside with 5 research questions and 5 null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The main instrument for data collection as a self constructed questionnaire. Data for this study were collected face to face with the help of a research assistant . data for research questions were analysed using descriptive statistics frequencies ,percentage and mean using SPPSSIBM Version 23.3. the findings were presented in a table, the results of this findings was expected as adolescents dietary habits were based on mostly processed foods and sugary drinks and food at .The findings of this study suggested that dietary habits of public secondary school students in Owerri Municipal, Imo State, are influenced by variety of factors including age, gender, occupation of parents and level of education of parents. It was therefore recommended that public health programs should be constructed for secondary school students to help increase a better dietary habit amongst the students.