Journal of School of Public Health and

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The increasing prevalence of adult obesity, and its individual as well as public consequences has always been a major concern for nutrition and health specialists. The last decade has also witnessed a sharp rise in childhood obesity rates worldwide. There is little reliable information on childhood obesity rates in Iran, hence the need for prevalence studies in different parts of this country. These studies are complicated by a paucity of baseline (reference) data on obesity in Iranian children. This study aims to determine the prevalence of obesity in Ahwaz primary school pupils by using three different sets of baseline values, namely IOTF, CDC and local data from Iran. Using two-stage cluster sampling, a total of 3482 students aged 6-12y (1843 boys & 1639 girls) were randomly selected from Ahwaz primary schools. Weight and height were measured and BMI calculated. Obesity was defined as having a BMI ≥ 95th percentile of each of the three sets of reference values. Prevalence rates according to Iranian reference data, CDC 2000, and IOTF 2000 were %10/9, %5/2, and %3/6 respectively. Obesity is quite common among school children in Ahwaz and further studies are required to determine risk factors. In addition, different reference data produce different prevalence estimates.

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As adoptin and maintenance of healthy eating behaviours is an important factor for Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD) prevention , this research was conducted to determin dietetic risk factors in relation to IHD. This is a case – control study conducted in fall 2003 in Tehran Heart Center and Tehran Shahid Rajaii hospital. 100 subjects with IHD, as cases and 100 controls with no cardiovascular disease in their medical history, participated in the study.Nutritional data was collected by Food Frequencey Quastionnaire. Some important risk factors including hypertention, hyperlipidemia,diabetes, Body Mass Index (BMI) and physical activity were evaluated. There was a positive association between IHD and consumption of fats and a negative association between IHD and consumption of fruits and vegetables.The most important factors were low intake of fish and high intake of fried foods that increased the risk of disease 13.96 and 54.65 times, respectively. Also 73% of patients had high risk diet while only 17% of controls had high risk diet. High risk diet increased the risk of cardiovascular diseases approximately 20 times. The main dietetic risk factors in this study were : low intake of fish, fruits and vegetables and lower consumption of oiles while hydrogenated fats with undesirable trans-fatty acid content, were the main source of dietary fat, in case group. Therefore community-based educational programmes are nesseary to promote healty nutrition.

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Obesity is excessive body fat on a scale that adversely affects health. Childhood obesity is increasing world-wide and is an important risk factor for many chronic diseases. In order to explore the association between childhood obesity and putative risk factors among primary school girls, the present study was carried out. In this study, all the obese students (according to Iranian references) from a sample of 835 school girls aged 8-11y were considered as the case group (n=134). 134 control students with normal weight (5th percentile < BMI ≤ 85th Percentile) were chosen randomly and obese children were matched with non–obese children by age, school and classroom. For each subject, we interviewed the mother and filled 3 questionnaires covering potential risk factors for obesity. Results showed that obese children had significantly higher probability of having obese parents compared to controls. Daily energy and macronutrient intake and frequency of consuming fast foods and fizzy drinks were higher in the case group. Compared to normal children, obese ones spent more time in front of the TV or the computer non-obese children the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). The duration of daily physical activity, energy and macronutrient intake per kilogram body weight, and parental education were all significantly higher in the control group (P<0.05). Most obese girls were born in winter or autumn while non–obese girls were born mostly in spring and summer (P<0.015). Obesity is a multi-factorial syndrome involving genetic, environmental and behavioral alterations. In this study, daily energy and macronutrient intake, physical activity, parental education, season of birth, frequency for eating fast-foods and fizzy drinks and time spent watching T.V. and videos or working with computers turned out to be risk factors.

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Background and Aim: Food and nutrition is one of the most essential needs of human societies and gaining sufficient and suitable food for all people is based on food security. Children are one of the most volnurable groups, so researchers and nutritionest emphasize on studying and analyzing of different aspects, effects and associated facters on prevalence of food insecurity and obesity among children. This study aimed to determine the association between obesity and food security and some related family factors inYazd primery school children.

Materials and Methods: Using two stage cluster sampling from 35 Yazd primary schools, a total of 3245 students aged 9-11y (1587 boys & 1658 girls) were randomly selected. Then 187 students 9-11y who had a BMI 95th percentile of Hosseini et al. (1999) reference, were identified as obese and 187 same age and gender pupils (having 15th<85th percentile) were studied as controls. Data were collected by demographic and USDA questionnaires.

Results: We found that the prevalence of obesity among student aged 9-11 years was 13.3% and the prevalence of food insecurity was 30.5%. Data analysing indicated that with adjusting variables such as "paternal education and occupation, economic status" there was a significant association between obesity and food insecurity in these levels: father's educated by secondary school, self-employment and low and moderate level of economic status. However, no significant association was observed between obesity and food insecurity when family size and maternal education were adjusted.

Conclusion: Paternal education and occupation, and family economic status were recognised as associated factors with food insecurity but other factors didn,t show significant relationship. There is lack of published information regarding some factors affecting food security therefore, it is necessary to performe such studies in other regions too.

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Background and Aim: Food insecurity implies a limited ability to secure adequate and safe food or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways. The nutrition transition in Iran is taking place in the context of rapid demographic change and urbanization in spite of underweight, obesity and overweight increased, especially among women. It is usually expected that food-insecure people have an inadequate food intake, less body fat, and body weight. However, several studies in developed countries have shown a higher prevalence of overweight/obesity among food-insecure household members, especially women. Under weight and overweight or obesity is the most common nutritional disorder in the developed countries and is assuming to become a serious health problem in developing countries. This study aimed to assess the association between food insecurity and socio-economic factors in households and body mass index among urban women in Dezful in 2008.

Materials and Methods: A total of 400 household were randomly selected by two stage sampling from different areas in Dezful. Heights and weights of all women were measured based on standard protocols, and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. BMI status was defined based on cut-off values recommended by NIH( under weight = BMI<18.5, normal weight 18.5< BMI< 25, overweight 25≤BMI<30 and obesity BMI≥30 Women provided detailed demographic and food insecurity information via a face- to- face interview. Information on food insecurity was collected using the instrument originally developed by USDA. All analysis was conducted using the SPSS statistical package.

Results: The prevalence of household food insecurity was %37.6 and 42.8% of the women were overweight, and 12% obese, respectively. Results showed that, BMI was positively associated with food insecurity, women's age and family size and inversely associated with , race and economic status (p <0.05).

Conclusion: It is evident that household food insecurity, overweight and obesity coexist in Dezful. Women age, family size, race and economic status were recognized as associated factors with food insecurity but other factors didn't show significant relationship. There is lack of published information regarding food insecurity and some factors affecting with body weight status therefore, it is necessary to perform such studies in other regions too.