Association of Age With Obesity Related Health Risk, Physical Activity Level and Dietary Intake Among Overweight and Obese Working Women

Overweight and obesity is one of the major health hazard, an epidemic of 21st century and increasing worldwide. Women tend to gain weight with progression of age. The present study aimed to compute changes in obesity related health risk like weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist hip ratio (WHR), visceral fat (VF) and percent body fat (PBF), physical activity level (PAL) and dietary intake in different age groups of  obese working women  in B.H.U (respondents). For this cross – sectional study was done on 200 respondents and they were selected by purposive sampling technique. Pre-tested and pre-designed questionnaire-cum interview schedule was used for data collection. Anthropometric measurements were taken by standard technique (Jelliffe, 1966). The values of PBF and VF were taken by Omron Body Composition Monitor, HBF 212. The relationship between obesity related health risk, PAL and dietary intake was determined in three age groups i.e. ≤ 35 years, 36 - 50 years and > 50 years. A gradual increase in obesity health risk i.e. height, weight, BMI and PBF was observed with the advancement of age but it is not so in case of WC, WHR and VF. The PAL value ranges between 1.40 – 1.99 and the mean physical activity score was 1.58 ± 0.11. The PAL values showed that majority of respondent’s falls in the category of sedentary lifestyle. The protein, carbohydrate, calcium, phosphorus and total fibre intake was higher in all the age group as recommended by recommended dietary allowances (RDA), 2010. Correlation between ages, obesity related health risk and nutrient intake was observed from the value of Pearson Correlation Coefficient (r).The age shows correlation with weight (r= 0.195, P < 0.01), BMI (r= 0.190, P < 0.01), WC (r= 0.74, P < 0.05) and PBF(r= 0.472, P < 0.001) and a negative correlation with calcium (r= - 0.178, P