Dietary habits and prevalence of obesity among girls of OUAT hostel, Bhubaneswar
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Date
2018-08-20
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Abstract
Obesity is increasing in middle-aged adults and the elderly. University students are at
high risk of being obese because university or college life is a critical period in terms of
overweight and or obesity since it is the period generally accompanied by a reduction in
physical activity levels, increased stress, and the adoption of unhealthy eating habits such as
increased consumption of soft drinks, sweets, fried and processed foods and skipping meals,
factors that favour an increase in the amount of body fat. The aim of this study is to Dietary
habits and prevalence of obesity among girls of OUAT hostel. A total of 200 OUAT students,
in the age group of 18-26 years were selected for the study, with 100 students in the control
group (day scholars) and 100 students in the study group (hostellers). The study was
conducted in 2 hostels of OUAT (OUAT ladies hostel complex and Jhadeswari hostel),
Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The study was conducted only on female subjects.
A structured life-style questionnaire designed to gather information on age, education,
socio economic status, anthropometric measurements, physical activity and food intake (24
hour recall method) and analysed for nutrient intake which was calculated by using nutritive
value of Indian foods (C. Gopalan, 1989) and compared with RDA (ICMR,2010). It revealed
72%, 7% and 21% of the hostellers were found to be in over-weight group, grade I obese
group and have normal BMI respectively. Among day scholars, 34% and 66% are obese and
normal respectively. 93% of the hostellers and 12% of day scholars were reported to have
waist to hip ratio above normal. 7% of day scholars are suffering from PCOS. The prevalence
of family history of obesity was found to be 18% among the hostellers and 20% among the
day scholars. Maximum percentage of the hostel inmates as compared to the day scholars was
found not to consume fruits, GLV and milk. Only very few percentage of subjects consume
fruits, GLV and milk. 84% of the hostellers reported to consume fast food daily. 50% of the
hostellers and 44% of the day scholars were found to sleep >5 & <6 hours/day. More
hostellers reported that they were not doing exercise regularly than day scholars.
In conclusion, the increase in the prevalence of obesity in OUAT hostel girls could lead
to disability and age-related diseases. For this reason, greater insight of the factors related to
the development of obesity is required to develop treatment strategies weight-loss prevention
programs.
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