Almuhammadi Nujud, Alfawaz Waad
Department of Community Health Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, PO Box 11433, Saudi Arabia.
Heliyon. 2024 Nov 22;10(24):e40656. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e40656. eCollection 2024 Dec 30.
Identification of an individuals vulnerability to specific eating behaviours could explain weight variations, which could help develop tailored interventional programs to prevent obesity and other pathological eating behaviours. However, there is no baseline data available on the associations between the subscales of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ) (dietary restraint, disinhibition, and susceptibility to hunger) and the body mass index (BMI) in a sample of the Saudi population. Thus, this study examines the relationship between the BMI and eating behaviours of Saudi female students, using the scores of the TFEQ subscales.
This cross-sectional study was conducted at King Saud University (KSU) with 200 female students who completed the Arabic version of TFEQ. The mean age of the participants was 22.88 ± 3.60 years. A Pearson correlation test determined the association between the TFEQ subscales and the BMI.
More than 50 % of the participants had a mean BMI of 23.57 ± 5.15 kg/m and a majority showed medium-to-high restraint scores (n = 150). Moreover, 70 % (n = 140) of the particpants showed significantly low disinhibition traits, and a significant positive correlation between BMI and eating behaviour ( ≤ 0.05). Among all TEFQ subscales, disinhibition significantly correlated with the BMI (r = 0.38, < 0.000) the most, followed by dietary restraint (r = 0.18, < 0.007). In contrast, susceptibility to hunger was the least associated with the BMI (r = 15, < 0.029).
The study indicated that all TFEQ subscales play an important role in weight variability, increasing the risk of eating disorders among college-aged Saudi female students. The BMI positively correlated to the students' eating behavioural profiles of high restrain, high disinhibition, and high hunger, and the hidden risk for eating disorders and obesity in normal-weight female students was high. Thus, interventional programs directed at Saudi female students, based on the eating behaviour traits that affect their BMIs, are recommended for managing weight and preventing eating disorder pathologies.
确定个体对特定饮食行为的易感性可以解释体重变化，这有助于制定量身定制的干预计划以预防肥胖和其他病理性饮食行为。然而，在沙特人群样本中，关于三因素饮食问卷（TFEQ）的分量表（饮食克制、去抑制和饥饿易感性）与体重指数（BMI）之间的关联，尚无基线数据。因此，本研究使用TFEQ分量表的得分来考察沙特女学生的BMI与饮食行为之间的关系。
本横断面研究在沙特国王大学（KSU）开展，200名女学生完成了阿拉伯语版的TFEQ。参与者的平均年龄为22.88±3.60岁。采用Pearson相关检验确定TFEQ分量表与BMI之间的关联。
超过50%的参与者平均BMI为23.57±5.15kg/m²，且大多数人的克制得分处于中高水平（n = 150）。此外，70%（n = 140）的参与者去抑制特质显著较低，且BMI与饮食行为之间存在显著正相关（P≤0.05）。在所有TFEQ分量表中，去抑制与BMI的相关性最高（r = 0.38，P < 0.000），其次是饮食克制（r = 0.18，P < 0.007）。相比之下，饥饿易感性与BMI的关联最小（r = 0.15，P < 0.029）。
该研究表明，TFEQ的所有分量表在体重变化中都起重要作用，增加了沙特大学适龄女学生饮食失调的风险。BMI与学生的高克制、高去抑制和高饥饿的饮食行为特征呈正相关，正常体重女学生中饮食失调和肥胖的潜在风险较高。因此，建议针对沙特女学生，基于影响其BMI的饮食行为特征制定干预计划，以控制体重并预防饮食失调性疾病。
