Dietary habits of overweight and obese women at reproductive age

Maternal obesity has been associated with pregnancy outcome. Dietary pattern and food consumption may play an important role in overweight and obese individuals. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between dietary habits and obesity in women at reproductive aged in Kermanshah. In this research study, 154 overweight and obese women (BMI>25 kg/m2) were recruited using convenient sampling method. FFQ and dietary habit questionnaires were used for dietary data collection. Body composition was assessed using bioelectric impedance (Plusavis 333) and data was analysed by SPSS16. The mean age, weight and BMI were 37.8+7.4 years, 76.8+9.9 kg and 31.6+3.7 kg/m2, respectively. In addition, 27% of participants had WHR and percentage of body fat (PBF) more than maximum cut-offs for women (0.85 and 40%, respectively). The results showed that 76.6% of subjects had non-healthy eating dietary habits. There was significant relationship between the amount of food consumption and BMI and PBF (p<0.05). Our findings suggest that changing food consumption patterns, coupled with decreasing physical activity, directly contribute to overweight and obesity. Nutrition awareness and education campaigns, combined with exercise, seem to be most promising to combat the obesity pandemic in developing countries.