Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of obesity and to examine the eating habits of elementary school students in Iksan dity. The study was carried out on 292 students(male: 151, female : 141)in May of 1997. The average height and weight of the subjects were 141 cm and 37 kg in males and 142 cm and 36 kg in females, which were similar to the average of Chonbuk. A Weight/Length Index(WLI), Broca Index, Rohrer Index(RI), Body Mass Index(BMI) and Waist Hip Ratio(WHR) were used as an obesity index to classify degree of obesity. WLI, Broca Index and RI were proper for judging child obesity and strict judgments were conducted in the order of RI, WLI and Brcoa Index. The subjects were classified as 30.8% underweight, 43.5% normal, 8.2% overweight and 17.5% obese by WLI and there were significant differences between height(p<0.05) and weight(p<0.01) according to obesity degree among the four groups. 50.3% of the boys and 55.3% of the girls are regularly, and the main reason they didn't ate regularly, and the maim reason they didn't eat breakfast(78.4%) was due to lack of time. The frequency of snacks were 1-2 times a week(40.4%), fruits(40.4%) from market and supermarket(68.2%). According to the survey 84.6%, 77.45, 78.1%, 69.9%, 59.9% and 86.6% of subjects didn't eat meat, fish, soysauce, instant food, sugar and seaweed respectively. Seaweed, meat, and soysauce showed low preferences. 69.5% and 74.75 of the subjects drink milk and ate kimchi respectively. By analyzing eating habits according to the degree of obesity, the rate of skipping breakfast(p<0.01), and eating meat or fish(p<0.05) were high in the overweight and obese groups of girls. In the boys case, the rate of not eating food in sugar(p<0.05) was high in the obese group. Obese children need to correct their eating habit. This reasserts the importance of nutrition education in children though teachers, parents, and dietitions. The findings of this study may be applied to nutrition education to ensure better physical fitness for chi......

• Keywords: elementary school; obesity; eating habits; Weight/Length Index; Broca Index; Rohrer Index