M Tabatabaei , A.r Dorosty , F Siassi , A Rahimi,
Volume 2, Issue 1 (4-2004)
Abstract
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.
Somayeh Mokhtari Molaei, Roya Sadeghi, Azar Tol, Maryam Sabouri, Shahrzad Saadat Gharin, Abbas Rahimi Foroushani,
Volume 20, Issue 3 (12-2022)
Abstract
Background and Aim: Food preferences and health literacy ─ key determinants of food choices in childhood and adolescence ─ are determinants of chronic diseases in adulthood. This study aimed to determine associations between food preferences, health literacy and body mass index (BMI) among elementary school students in Malekan city, east Azarbayejan Province, Iran in 2021-2022.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study included 582 male and female primary-schoolers in the fourth, fifth and sixth grades in both the public and private schools in Malekan County (Malekan, Lilan, and Mubarakshahr) selected by the two-stage randomized cluster method. A questionnaire including background questions and questions about health literacy and a researcher-made checklist of food preferences was used to collect data online using the Pros-Online Platform. The content validity ratio and index were used to determine validity and Cronbach's alpha index to check for the reliability of the questionnaire (CVI=0.98, CVR=0.91, Cronbach's alpha > 0.7). Data were analyzed using Mann-Whitney, t-test, one-way analysis of variance, Kruskal-Wallis and Chi-square tests at a significance level of 0.05 using SPSS 26.
Results: The average health literacy score of all the students was rather low (52.9±00.33), that of the female students (55.7±36.49) being slightly higher than that of the boys (49. 9±29.79). Further analysis of the data showed that there was a statistically significant relationship between the students' food preferences and health literacy variables (p<0.001). Furthermore, statistically significant relationships were observed between the students' BMI and their food preferences (p˂0.001) and health literacy (p˂0.001).
Conclusion: Considering the low level of health literacy of the adolescents and a positive relationship between health literacy, food preferences and BMI in adolescents, it can be concluded that increasing their health literacy will improve their healthy food choices. Therefore, it seems that interventions based on a theoretical framework aiming at increasing the students’ health literacy and improving their food preferences can be beneficial to them as a potential strategy for improving their healthy eating patterns resulting in preventing overweight and obesity.
