Abstract
Introduction
Children are a nation's most valuable resource, but during school age, they face an increased risk of becoming overweight or obese. This can lead to serious health problems and early chronic diseases due to imbalanced caloric intake and energy expenditure. Food consumption patterns play crucial roles in the development of overweight and obesity. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the associations between food consumption patterns and overweight among school-aged children aged 10–17 years in Cambodia.
Methods
This study used secondary data from the 2015 Foundation for International Development/Relief (FIDR) survey, which used multistage cluster sampling to collect samples. This study restricted 1,526 samples of students aged 10–17 years from 136 schools across 23 provinces. Frequencies and proportions were calculated for students’ information, geographic and household characteristics, food consumption patterns, and overweight. A chi-square test was used to identify factors associated with being overweight. Multivariate logistic regression was subsequently used to assess the main predictors of overweight.
Results
Overall, 52.4% were girls. Most participants (80.5%) lived in rural areas with their parents. Forty-six children (3.0%) were overweight. More than half of the students (54%) ate fruit fewer than 3 days per week. A total of 89.3% consumed vegetables > 3 days per week, whereas 60.2% consumed red meat more than three days per week. They also reported eating fish or poultry and junk food (60.3%) > 3 days per week. Soft drink consumption was reported by 55.4% of the participants. Most students (78%) drank milk/soy milk fewer than three days per week. Overweight was more prevalent among girls (3.6%) than boys (2.3%). Compared with rural areas, urban areas had a significantly higher rate of overweight (5.4% vs. 2.4%; p = 0.008). Overweight was associated with a smaller family size (p = 0.054) and was less likely in families that grew vegetables (p = 0.024). When adjusted, living in urban schools emerged as the only significant predictor of overweight in the regression analysis, with AOR = 2.0 (95% CI: 1.0–3.7, p = 0.035).
Conclusion
This study highlighted the overall low prevalence of overweight among school students aged 10–17 years. Living in urban areas was significantly linked to being overweight among school students. This may be due to differences in dietary habits and physical activity patterns between urban and rural areas. Therefore, targeted interventions and nutritional education in urban schools and their communities are needed to promote healthier dietary habits, including proper portion control, informed food choices, and meal balance with a variety of food groups. Furthermore, efforts to reduce processed food consumption that is more accessible in urban areas are needed.