An-Najah Staff

Overweight and obesity are major public health problems and the most common nutritional disorders. The prevalence of overweight and obesity is rising at an alarming rate in both developing and developed countries. The main objective of this study is to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity and their associations with dietary habits among students from An-Najah National University in Palestine. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 304 Students (50% males and 50%females), who have been chosen by convenient sampling method from An-Najah National University campus of two faculties; Faculty of Arts (152 students) and Faculty of Science (152 students). Data collection was carried out during the period between March and April 2011. Students were asked to fill in a standard questionnaire.Food habits of the participants were assessed by using the food frequency questionnaire for selected food items. Body Mass Index (BMI) was used for the assessment of overweight and obesity. Also waist circumference (WC) was measured to assess abdominal obesity. In addition, hemoglobin level in blood (Hb%) was tested. Statistical analysis was conducted using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences software (version 15.0). Informed consent was taken from all participants. Results The majority of the sampled students (70.4%) were of normal weight (78.9% of females and 61.8% of males). The prevalence rates of overweight and obesity among students from An-Najah national University were 20.1% and 4.6%, respectively. Furthermore, overweight and obesity were more common among male students compared to females (27.0%and 5.9% vs. 13.2% and 3.3%, respectively). The prevalence of abdominal obesity among students was 17.8% and was more common among female students (23.0%) compared to males (12.5%). The prevalence of anaemia among university students was 13.8%. Anaemia was more common among females (18.4%) than males (9.2%), (P< 0.05). In addition, about 5.3% of male students were underweight compared to 4.6% of females. The majority (68.4%) of students reported that they take meals irregularly. There were significant differences between males and females in meal patterns, (P< 0.05). Also there were significant differences between males and females in physical activity (69.1% of males and 55.9% of females practiced sports), and smoking (51.3% of males and 91.4% of females never smoked, while 48.7% of males and 8.6% of females were current smokers), (P< 0.05). A total of 58.2 % (57.2% of females and 59.2% of males) and 43.4% (40.8% of females and 46.7% of males) reported daily intake of vegetables and fruits, respectively. Conclusions: According to results obtained, the author concluded that overweight and obesity are a problem among Arts and Science students of An-Najah National University, despite the low prevalence of overweight and obesity in the studied sample as compared to prevalence in neighboring countries. Overweight and obesity were more common among male students compared to females. The prevalence of abdominal obesity was more common among female students compared to males. Prevalence of anaemia was more common among females than male students. Results indicated that university students would benefit from nutritional and health promotion programs to reduce the tendency of overweight and obesity, particularly males, and to improve students' eating habits through educational programs which encourage increased consumption of fruits and vegetables for a good health. Keywords Obesity, Overweight, Dietary habits, Anemia, An-Najah National University students, Nablus, Palestine.