Relación entre las actitudes hacia la alimentación y el diagnóstico antropométrico en adolescentes de una institución educativa peruana

Introduction: Adolescence is a key stage in the formation of eating habits that influence future health. Biological, psychological and social changes can lead to inappropriate behaviors and risk of malnutrition. Instruments such as the EAT-26 allow us to detect risk behaviors and their relationship with BMI and abdominal circumference. Objective: To evaluate the relationship between attitudes toward food and anthropometric measurements in adolescents aged 12 to 15 years. Methodology: Non-experimental, cross-sectional and correlational study, carried out on 103 students randomly selected from a population of 140 adolescents. Eating attitudes were evaluated using the EAT-26 and anthropometric diagnosis with BMI and abdominal circumference, according to WHO and MINSA. The normality of the data was verified, and the Spearman correlation test was applied to determine the association between the variables. Likewise, the EAT-26 instrument was validated by Huaman S., who reported adequate content validity (Aiken’s V > 0.80) and high reliability (Cronbach’s alpha α = 0.889) in a female adolescent population. Results: A positive correlation was observed between the BMI and PAB dimensions and the Attitudes towards Eating variable (p<0.05), with coefficients of 0.692 and 0.507, respectively. Regarding the anthropometric diagnosis, 10.7% were obese, 47.6% overweight and 40.8% normal weight. Additionally, 66% showed risk of eating disorder. It is concluded that there is a direct and significant relationship between the anthropometric diagnosis and attitudes towards eating in adolescents from a particular educational institution in Comas in 2025. Conclusion: Attitudes toward eating are significantly related to anthropometric assessment in adolescents. Less healthy attitudes are associated with higher BMI and waist circumference values, demonstrating their influence on nutritional status. These results highlight the importance of educational interventions to improve anthropometric health in students aged 12 to 15 years.