Methods: The qualitative method was used. Through purposive sampling, the participants included 30 Thai adolescents in secondary school and high school education organized by the Office of the Basic Education Commission of Thailand and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and were then analyzed using content analysis.
Results: Majority of the participants were female (70%) with mean age of 15.17 ± 1.577 years, ranging from 12-18 years. According to WHO criteria, 33.3% of participants were obese whereas 3.3% were overweight and 20% were underweight. Some of them (13.3%) had health problems including asthma (10%) and thalassemia with asthma (3.3%). Four themes emerged as domains of the nutrition literacy concerning: (1) Nutritious food and health referred to consuming more vegetables and fruits, drinking milk with high calcium, avoiding food with high fat, sugar, sodium, and energy drink or beverage containing alcohol. Vegetable and fruit could help them to control their body weight and prevent some health problems. Their plate should be composed of red meat, rice/carbohydrate, fat and vegetable with no meal skipping. (2) Balance of food intake and energy use referred to proper amount of food consumption within a meal and activities the adolescents spent per day. (3) Use of nutrition information referred to reading, understanding, and making decision for food choices including information on the food labels such as serving size, portion size, ingredient, and expiration date. (4) Food safety referred to having fresh vegetable, organic food, and avoiding food contaminated with toxin, chemical, recycled cooking oils, or burnt food. Dark oil and burnt food were perceived to be harmful for the adolescents’ health.
Conclusion: Results suggest approaches to promote nutrition literacy among Thai adolescents and development of screening tool for nutrition literacy including these domains.