Rabab Alkutbe
University of Plymouth ,UK
Title: The correlation between socio-economic status and energy and nutrient intake of girls aged 8-11 years in Saudi Arabia
Biography
Biography: Rabab Alkutbe
Abstract
Obesity has become a major world-wide health issue. Social and economic factors may influence nutritional intake as a result of differing regional diets, lifestyles and cultures, and these require closer scrutiny. However, this issue has not been examined in studies of children in Saudi Arabia. The aim of this study was to assess energy and nutrient intakes of girls aged 8-11 years in western of Saudi Arabia according to socio-economic status (SES).
Girls (n= 134) participated from different schools (private n= 4 and public n= 3). Height and weight were measured and BMI was calculated. Girls were classified as obese, overweight, healthy weight and underweight according to BMI centile charts (CDC). Dietary intake was measured via a 4-day food diary and with the purpose of assessing the household socioeconomic status as classified by king Khalid foundation (3); parents or carers were asked to fill out a questionnaire attached to the diet diary. Dietary data was analysed using Arab Food Analysis Programme 1st version 2007 analysis package. Data were statistically analysed using SPSS version 21. Number of subjects according to their income status is presented in Table 1. Results showed that 17 out of 28 obese subjects were from high-income families, whereas 7 out of 14 underweight girls were from low-income families.
Nevertheless, chi- square was not significant suggesting that being from any family income status would not affect the BMI status (Chi-Square =5.151- P=0.272). There was a positive correlation between the two variables, r = 0.22, n = 134, p < .0.05, with high levels of energy intake associated with high levels of income as shown in Table 2.
To sum up, results showed that there is a positive relationship between energy intake and the family income status.