Effect of dietary habit and physical activity on overnutrition of schoolgoing adolescents: A longitudinal assessment in a rural block of West Bengal.

Background: Overweight among adolescents has high prevalence on the eastern part of India, especially West Bengal.

Objectives: The current study was conducted to estimate and compare the effects of different dietary habits and habits related to physical activity in the development of overweight and obesity among rural schoolgoing adolescents.

Methods: A prospective repeated measures study was conducted on 645 schoolgoing adolescents from selected rural government-aided schools from June 2017 to December 2017. Dietary habits of the students and physical activity-related factors were the major predictors. Adjusting for the age and sex of the participants, effect of these factors on the development of overweight and obesity was analyzed by generalized estimating equations for 2 repeated measures, taken 6 months apart.

Results: Most of the respondents were aged ≥16 years (56.90%), female (52.87%), Hindu (76.74%), from a nuclear family (76.74%), and studying in the secondary level (57.68%). There was a stark rise in proportion of overweight from 0.93% to 7.44%. The prevalence of unhealthy dietary habits was 68.99% at the baseline, and 66.82% on follow-up. The overall prevalence of inadequate physical activity increased to 48.68% from 47.91%. Female gender and older age group were at higher risk of being overweight or obesity. Overall fast food showed highest risk (3.04, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.86-4.95), while among the boys, it was with less vegetable consumption (4.64, 95% CI: 1.84-11.69).

Conclusions: Strong evidence was generated of dietary practices being more rigidly related to overweight among the adolescents. Healthy dietary practices coupled with physical activity should be promoted to mitigate the risk of obesity.