Comparison of eating habits and inappropriate weight control efforts of secondary school students enrolled in a weight control program

EunKyo Kang; Soojeong Kim; Young Ho Yun

doi:10.4162/nrp.2021.15.5.628

Comparison of eating habits and inappropriate weight control efforts of secondary school students enrolled in a weight control program

Nutr Res Pract. 2021 Oct;15(5):628-638. doi: 10.4162/nrp.2021.15.5.628. Epub 2021 Mar 10.

Authors

EunKyo Kang^{1

2}, Soojeong Kim³, Young Ho Yun^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Public Healthcare Center, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul 03080, Korea.
² Department of Family Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul 03080, Korea.
³ Department of Biomedical Science, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 03080, Korea.

Abstract

Background/objectives: Numerous school-based weight control programs have been initiated for weight loss among adolescents. However, the relationship between these programs and inappropriate weight control efforts, dietary habits and behavior of students, have not been investigated sufficiently. This study was undertaken to investigate the association between body mass index (BMI) of adolescents, and their health status and inappropriate weight-control efforts. We further examined the relationship between attendance to school-based weight-control programs and attempting inappropriate weight-control efforts, dietary habits, and behavior.

Subjects/methods: A survey of 1,742 students was conducted in Korea. Logistic regression was used to assess differences in the health status (grouped by BMI and improper weight control) and dietary habits, based on attendance to the weight-control programs.

Results: Obese students were significantly more dissatisfied with physical, mental and spiritual health. Students who attended weight-control programs were likely to be underweight (P < 0.001), whereas those who did not attend weight-control programs were likely to attempt weight control improperly (P < 0.001). Students who participated in the program also had relatively healthy dietary habits (P < 0.001-0.027), and students who did not attend had comparatively unhealthy dietary habits (P < 0.001-0.008). Students who attended weight-control programs were likely to be underweight (P < 0.001) with relatively healthy dietary habits (P < 0.001-0.027), whereas students who did not attend the programs were likely to attempt weight control improperly (P < 0.001) and had comparatively unhealthy dietary habits (P < 0.001-0.008).

Conclusions: Attending school-based weight-control programs was significantly associated with not attempting inappropriate weight-control efforts, as well as following healthy dietary habits. Our data indicates that offering school-based weight-control programs is valuable to student health, and is anticipated to reducing the public health burden.

Keywords: Secondary schools; body weight; dietary habits; perception.