High tendency to the substantial concern on body shape and eating disorders risk of the students majoring Nutrition or Sport Sciences

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Studies have indicated that university students majoring in nutrition and dietetics or sport sciences may have more obsessions associated with eating attitudes and body shape perception compared to other disciplines i.e. social sciences. Therefore, this study aimed to assess and compare the risk of eating disorders and body shape perception. MATERIALS/METHODS: Data was collected from 773 undergraduate students at the Departments of Nutrition and Dietetics (NDD) (n = 254), Physical Education and Sports (PESD) (n = 263), and Social Sciences (SOC) (n = 256).A socio-demographic and personal information questionnaire, Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-40), Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ-34), Perceived Figure Rating Scale (FRS) were applied; and body weights and heights were measured. RESULTS: Mean EAT-40 scores showed that, both male and female students of PESD had the highest scores (17.4 +/- 11.6) compared with NDD (14.3 +/- 8.3) and SOC (13.0 +/- 6.2) (P < 0.05). According to EAT-40 classification, high risk in abnormal eating behavior was more in PESD (10.7%) compared to NDD (2.9%) and SOC (0.4%) students (P < 0.05). Students of PESD, who skipped meal, had higher tendency to the risk of eating disorders (P < 0.05). In parallel, body shape perception was found to be marked with higher scores in NDD (72.0 +/- 28.7) and PESD (71.5 +/- 32.8) compared with SOC (64.2 +/- 27.5) students (P < 0.05). Considering BSQ-34 classification, high concern (moderate and marked) for body shape were more in PESD (7.4 %) compared to NDD (5.2%) and SOC (1.9%) students (P < 0.05). The body size judgement via obtained by the FRS scale were generally correlated with BMI. The Body Mass Index levels were in normal range (Mean BMI: 21.9 +/- 2.8 kg/m2) and generally consistent with FRS data. CONCLUSIONS: Tendency to the abnormal eating behavior and substantial body shape perception were higher in PESD students who have more concern on body shape and were not well-educated about nutrition. In conclusion, substantial concern on physical appearance might affect eating behavior disorders in PESD students.

Prevalence of obesity, abdominal obesity and the associated factors among a group of Turkish adults

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of obesity and abdominal obesity and some causative factors. In this cross-sectional study were included 1066 adults [527 men, 539 women] ranging in age from 18 to 59 years old studying in Ankara, Turkey. Weight, height, waist and hip circumferences of adults were measured, Body Mass Index [BMI] and Waist Hip Ratio [WHR] were calculated. The association between age, nutritional factors and BMI, waist circumference and WHR were evaluated. The overall prevalence of obesity was 9.7% and overweight was 34.8%. The prevalence of abdominal obesity was 21.6% in men, 41.4% in women. Obesity and abdominal obesity was positively associated with daily energy intake, percentage of energy from fats, sugar intakes, whereas it was negatively associated with daily fiber, calcium intake and age. It would be useful to examine the factors related to obesity and abdominal obesity in the prevention of obesity in adults