Food choice in general is a complex process that
depends on culture and can be influenced by different
factors such as personal, social, economic and
emotional. Teenagers make many more choices for
themselves than they did as children. Moreover, since
eating is a social act, social networks and family can
affect their food choices even more.5
In addition,
globalization is eroding traditionalfoods and offering
more food choice and availability, all of which could
influence their eating patterns.6,7
Recent studies in Greece have shown that food
habits in adolescents have changed and low adherence
rates to the traditional Mediterranean diet have
been observed, particularly in Greek children and
adolescents.8-10 The majority of these studies focus on
the evaluation of the nutrition status of adolescents;
however, there are very limited data on factors that
influence food choice in this age group in Greece.
There is also little information about the meal and
snack frequency of Greek adolescents as well as the
places where adolescents usually eat and the timing
of their meals. The purpose of the present study was
to examine such eating behaviours in a cohort of
Greek adolescents and the factors influencing their
food choices and habits.