Research Article
Fast Food vs Healthy Food Intake and Overweight/Obesity Prevalence among Adolescents in the State of Qatar
Ghazi Daradkeh, Asma Al Muhannadi,
Chandra P, Moudi Al Hajr
Correspondence Address :
Ghazi Daradkeh
Hamad
Medical Corporation
AL-Khor Hospital, Qatar
Tel: +9745526 4714
Email: gdaradkeh@hamad.qa, ghaziffff@gmail.com
Received on: January 23, 2018, Accepted on: February 01, 2018, Published on: February 09, 2018
Citation: Ghazi Daradkeh, Asma Al Muhannadi, Chandra P, Moudi Al Hajr (2018). Fast Food vs Healthy Food Intake and Overweight/Obesity Prevalence among Adolescents in the state of Qatar
Copyright: 2018 Ghazi Daradkeh et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background: As a result of economic transitions fast food consumption has been common in both developed and developing countries. Both developed and developing countries Fast food consumption has become common and prevalent due to economic transitions. Adolescents are the highest and more frequent age group consumed fast food; fast food consumption is positively associated with total energy intake and obesity in adolescents.
Objective: This study aimed to assess adolescent's fast foods versus fruits and vegetables intake relative to gender, overweight and obesity.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 625 boys and 600 girls, aged 15-8 years. The adolescents completed a validated questionnaire to assess the intake of adolescent's fast foods versus fruits and vegetables. Weight and height were measured.
Numbers who were, overweight, and obese were calculated for each age and sex using the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) standard.
Results: The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity were (18.5% and 19.1%) respectively. Waist circumference was significantly higher in males (77.82 +/- 17.3) than in females (73.06 +/- 10.2) (P<0.0001). There was no statistical difference in central obesity between males and females as measured by waist height ratio (p=0.40).A significant difference between males and females adolescents was reported regarding age (<0.001), body mass index (P < 0.0001), fast food intake (P<0.035), energy drinks (P<0.000) and fruits intake (P<0.002). The study showed that the frequency of fast food intake (≥4 times/ wk.) 25.5% was more prevalent than of fruits and vegetables intakes (19.1% & 19.3%) respectively. Moreover, the results revealed that the frequency fast food, fruits and vegetables intake was significantly correlated with BMI (P=0.03, 0.01, 0.001).
Conclusions: The frequency of fast foods consumption was significantly more among male than female adolescents in Qatar and related to overweight and obesity in both genders.
Keywords: Fast foods, Gender, Body weight status, Adolescents, Body Mass Index, Waist Height Ratio