Abstract:
Background: Many low- and middle-income countries are now shifting toward diets that are higher in added sugars, unhealthy fats, salt, and refined carbohydrates. Childhood obesity and chronic diseases have all been linked to unhealthy food consumption. As a result, documenting the magnitude and consequence of unhealthy food consumption is critical for policymakers, health professionals, and society at large.
Objective: This study aimed to assess the prevalence of unhealthy food consumption and associ-ated factors among children ages 6–23 months in Gondar City, Northwest Ethiopia, in 2022.
Methods: A community based cross sectional study was conducted from June 30 to July 21, 2022, in Gondar city. A total of 811 study participants were included by using a simple random sampling technique. A structured, face-to-face interviewer administered questionnaire was used. Data were entered into Epi Data 3.1 and exported to STATA 14 for further analysis. A multivari-ate logistic regression with a p <0.05 and odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval used to de-termine the association between the predictor variables and the dependent variable.
Results: The percentage of children with unhealthy food consumption was 64.00% (95% CI. 60.00%, 66.00 %). Mother’s education of college & above [AOR= 0.54, 95% CI= 0.30, 0.95], fathers’ occupation of laborer [AOR=3.09, 95%CI=1.19, 7.97], urban residence [AOR=1.89, 95% CI=1.14, 3.13], post-natal care visits [AOR= 0.52, 95% CI= 0.29, 0.92], age of a child of 18-23moths [AOR=1.59, 95% CI=1.05, 2.39] and family size of greater than four [AOR=1.49, 95% CI=1.03, 2.16] were variables significantly associated with unhealthy food consumption.
Conclusion and Recommendation: The prevalence of unhealthy food consumption among in-fant and young children is high in Gondar City Administration. Maternal education, paternal oc-cupation, urban residence, postnatal care visit, age of child, and family size were all significant predictors of unhealthy food consumption. Thus, improving mothers’ education, PNC and family planning service are critical to reducing unhealthy food consumption.
