Background: The literature brings to light the unhealthy nutritional habits prevalent among Asian adolescents and their high level of body image dissatisfaction. This study aims to conduct a systematic review of the literature on the effect of nutritional education interventions on their nutritional knowledge and food intake behavior, attitude, practice, and body image.
Methods: We searched relevant published studies in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Science Direct, and Springer using the PICO framework and performed a quality assessment using the 10-point checklist adapted from the National Institutes for Health tool.
Results: The majority of the nutritional education interventions improve unhealthy food intake and body image misperception, particularly on nutritional knowledge/self-efficacy, healthy dietary habits, physical activities, and fruit and vegetable intake. We also found a negative association with excess weight gain, obesity, and unethical weight reduction practices, leading to dissatisfaction with body image.
Conclusion: These interventions can help address dietary problems and body image perception and support the development of future interventions.
Keywords: Asian adolescents; body image; diet; food intake; nutritional education; perception.
Copyright © 2024 Pushpa, Abdul Latif, Sharbini, Murang and Ahmad.