Survey of relationship between snacks and anthropometric indices in girl students of lorestan university of medical sciences in 2017

Zainab Shateri,1 Mojgan khosravi,2,*

1. Ahvaz Jondishapour University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
2. Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran

Abstract

Introduction

Inappropriate food patterns are one of the proven and variable causes of obesity and choosing of healthy snacks plays an important role in health of people. the present study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between snacks and anthropometric indices.

Methods

In this cross-sectional study, 130 female students entered the study from lorestan university of medical sciences. a questionnaire containing common snacks was used for collecting information. also, the anthropometric information of the subjects was collected using the seca, strip meter and related formulas. pearson correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship between snacks and anthropometric measurements. data was analyzed by spss software version 17.

Results

The mean of age and weight of the participants were 20.61 and 57.94, respectively. low fat milk showed a negative and significant correlation with body mass index (r = -0.20, p = 0.02). in contrast, ice cream and fast food indicated a positive and significant correlation with body mass index (r = 0.35, p < 0.001 and r = 0.43, p < 0.001), weight (r = 0.26, p = 0.002 and r = 0.34, p <0.001), waist circumference (r = 0.26, p = 0.003 and r = 0.22, p = 0.01) and waist to hip ratio (r = 0.18, p=0.03 and r = 0.19, p=0.02), respectively. also snacks of chips and puffs, sweets and desserts illustrated positive and significant correlation with body mass index (r = 0.23, p = 0.003 and r = 0.33, p < 0.001), weight (r = 0.18, p = 0.03 and r = 0.32, p < 0.001), waist circumference (r = 0.17, p = 0.04 and r = 0.26, p = 0.002), accordingly.

Conclusion

The present study indicated that there is a direct relationship between fast foods, ice cream, chips, sweets, desserts and anthropometric indices. in this study, with the separation of common snacks, it was shown that type of snack plays an important role in the weight of individuals and we cannot merely consider frequency of intake of snacks associated with obesity or weight loss. the results showed that healthy snacks and unhealthy snacks could have beneficial and harmful effects on anthropometric indices, respectively. according to research findings, it is suggested that people choice healthy snacks to manage their weight and experience a healthy life. so, by selecting healthy snacks, they can prevent from diseases that due to overweight and obesity.

Keywords

Snacks, anthropometry, indices, girl students, lorestan