A study on the Characteristics in Lifestyle, Eating Habits and Food Preferences of Overweight and Obese Children in Pocheon Area

Abstract

This study was undertaken with 542 fifth-grade elementary school children to investigate the characteristics in lifestyle, eating habits, food preferences of overweight and obese children in the Pocheon area of Korea. Anthropometry was conducted to determine obesity, and data was obtained on lifestyle, eating habits and food preferences by using questionnaires. The prevalence rate of obesity was 19.5% for boys and 8.5% for girls, and 14.3% of boys and 14.4% of girls were overweight. No significant differences was found in the body size and education years of parents, family income and the empolymental status of mother. Boys did not show any significant difference between subgroups in lifestyle, eating habits and food preferences. Obese girls watched TV longer and liked physical education less than normal and overweight groups, suggesting that an inactive lifestyle can be related to girls' obesity in this study. Overweight girls answered that they had significantly lower preferences for empty-calorie foods such as candies/caramels and cookies as well as high-fat foods such as samgyupsal(pork belly) than normal weight girls, implicating the fear of obesity for overweight girls, although more studies should be done including an assessment of actual intake of these foods. The preferences of obese girls for these foods were not higher than those of normal-weight girls, suggesting that the preference for certain foods may not be the characteristic of obese girls in this study. A special program for nutritional education with a different focus should be developed to combat the problems of each subgroup depending on gender and obesity status to improve the physical fitness of the children in this area.

Keywords

• obesity;
• elementary school children;
• lifestyle;
• eating habits;
• food preferences