Department of Clinical Laboratory, College of Health Sciences at Rass, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia.
Nutr J. 2010 Sep 19;9:39. doi: 10.1186/1475-2891-9-39.
During the last few decades, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) experienced rapid socio-cultural changes caused by the accelerating economy in the Arabian Gulf region. That was associated with major changes in the food choices and eating habits which, progressively, became more and more "Westernized". Such "a nutritional transition" has been claimed for the rising rates of overweight and obesity which were recently observed among Saudi population. Therefore, the objectives of the current work were to 1) determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity in a sample of male college students in KSA and 2) determine the relationship between the students' body weight status and composition and their eating habits.
A total of 357 male students aged 18-24 years were randomly chosen from College of Health Sciences at Rass, Qassim University, KSA for the present study. A Self-reported questionnaire about the students' eating habits was conducted, and their body mass index (BMI), body fat percent (BF%), and visceral fat level (VFL) were measured. Data were analyzed using SPSS statistical software, and the Chi-square test was conducted for variables.
The current data indicated that 21.8% of the students were overweight and 15.7% were obese. The total body fat exceeded its normal limits in 55.2% of the participants and VFL was high in 21.8% of them. The most common eating habits encountered were eating with family, having two meals per day including breakfast, together with frequent snacks and fried food consumption. Vegetables and fruits, except dates, were not frequently consumed by most students. Statistically, significant direct correlations were found among BMI, BF% and VFL (P < 0.001). Both BMI and VFL had significant inverse correlation with the frequency of eating with family (P = 0.005 and 0.007 respectively). Similar correlations were also found between BMI and snacks consumption rate (P = 0.018), as well as, between VFL and the frequency of eating dates (P = 0.013).
Our findings suggest the need for strategies and coordinated efforts at all levels to reduce the tendency of overweight, obesity and elevated body fat, and to promote healthy eating habits in our youth.
在过去几十年中，沙特阿拉伯王国（KSA）经历了由于阿拉伯海湾地区经济的快速发展而带来的快速社会文化变革。这与食物选择和饮食习惯的重大变化有关，这些变化逐渐变得更加“西化”。最近在沙特人口中观察到超重和肥胖率上升，因此有人声称存在这种“营养转型”。因此，当前工作的目的是 1）确定 KSA 男性大学生样本中超重和肥胖的流行率，2）确定学生体重状况和组成与饮食习惯之间的关系。
本研究从沙特 Qassim 大学 Ras 健康科学学院随机选择了 357 名年龄在 18-24 岁的男性学生。对学生的饮食习惯进行了自我报告的问卷调查，并测量了他们的体重指数（BMI），体脂肪百分比（BF％）和内脏脂肪水平（VFL）。使用 SPSS 统计软件分析数据，并进行了变量的卡方检验。
当前数据表明，21.8％的学生超重，15.7％的学生肥胖。55.2％的参与者的总体体脂肪超过正常范围，21.8％的参与者的 VFL 较高。最常见的饮食习惯是与家人一起用餐，每天吃两餐包括早餐，经常吃零食和油炸食品。大多数学生不经常食用蔬菜和水果，除了枣子。统计学上，BMI，BF％和 VFL 之间存在显著的直接相关性（P <0.001）。BMI 和 VFL 与与家人一起用餐的频率呈显著负相关（P = 0.005 和 0.007）。BMI 与零食消费率之间也存在相似的相关性（P = 0.018），而 VFL 与吃枣子的频率之间存在相关性（P = 0.013）。
我们的研究结果表明，需要在各个层面制定策略并协调努力，以减少超重，肥胖和体脂肪升高的趋势，并促进我们年轻人的健康饮食习惯。
