Dietary factors associated with obesity indicators (body mass index and waist circumference) in obese and overweight adults of tangier (northern morocco): A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Obesity is a chronic disease that results from a positive energy balance. Dietary factors are the most related to this positive energy balance. Therefore, The aim of this work was to study the dietary factors in overweight and obese populations of Tangier. This was a cross-sectional study of 480 subjects, who were selected according to a precise questionnaire, which included the anthropometric, sociodemographic characteristics and dietary factors. The mean age of our patients was 45.56 ± 12.23 years, the body mass index (BMI) average was 33.97 ± 5.84 kg/m2 and waist circumference (WC) average was 109.78 ± 15.42 cm. Overweight affected 25.2% of subjects and obesity 74.8%, whose 88.8% of subjects had abdominal obesity. Obesity was caused by bad eating habits which were: hypercaloric diet (40.5%), destructuring of meals (22%) and fast food consumption (27.9%). In addition, 51.5% of subjects had eating disorders (ED), the most manifested were: Nibbling (22%), Hyperphagia (17.9%) and Night Eating Syndrome (11%). The prevalence of dietary factors studied increased with female gender and with age group 18–46 years. Fast food and destructuring of meals increased 2 times the risk of obesity, and hypercaloric diet increased 2.5 times the risk of abdominal obesity. Similarly, hyperphagia and nibbling increased already 2 times the risk of obesity. The prevalence of bad eating habits and eating disorders were high in our patients, these dietary factors increased the risk of obesity. Therefore, public health programs should consider these dietary factors when planning strategies to prevent or reduce the problem of obesity in Moroccan societies.