Abstract
Background: Despite the significant role of fiber and energy consumption in the development of overweight and obesity, associations between these dietary measures and the prevalence of obesity in Ghana are lacking. Hence, the objective of the survey was to determine a relationship between fiber and energy and the odds of obesity among a young male population from Sissala East Municipal. Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted using a randomly recruited 406 young male population (aged 20–29 years) in Sissala Municipality. Data were collected in November and December 2020. Dietary fiber and energy were obtained from the West African Food composition tables. Quantities of food consumed were assessed by using a 24-hour dietary recall approach. The proxies for general obesity and abdominal obesity were body mass index and waist circumference, respectively. Before data collection, permission was sought from the Municipal Health Directorate, and traditional heads in the communities. Results: In the unadjusted binary logistic regression models, the odds of general and abdominal obesity were significantly lower in the higher quartiles of dietary fiber, compared with quartile-one. Similarly, in the adjusted model, in which the effects of age, household size of the respondent, education, occupation, and marital were adjusted, there was still a significant inverse relationship between dietary fiber and the odds of general and abdominal obesity. Conversely, there was a significant positive association between dietary energy intake and the odds of general and abdominal obesity in both the unadjusted and adjusted models. Conclusion: From the findings, dietary fiber and energy were inversely and positively related to obesity [both general and abdominal], respectively. The intake of fiber rich diets might be beneficial for the prevention of obesity and ought to be promoted by the nutrition and health authorities.
Highlights
Despite the significant role of fiber and energy consumption in the development of overweight and obesity, associations between these dietary measures and the prevalence of obesity in Ghana are lacking
In Ghana, dietary energy is mainly obtained from refined grain products [3], which are low in dietary fiber
A higher proportion of participants with either overweight or obesity were classified under the highest quartile of dietary energy, when compared with participants without either overweight/obesity (P < 0.001)
Summary
Despite the significant role of fiber and energy consumption in the development of overweight and obesity, associations between these dietary measures and the prevalence of obesity in Ghana are lacking. The objective of the survey was to determine a relationship between fiber and energy and the odds of obesity among a young male population from Sissala East Municipal. Results: In the unadjusted binary logistic regression models, the odds of general and abdominal obesity were significantly lower in the higher quartiles of dietary fiber, compared with quartile-one. In the adjusted model, in which the effects of age, household size of the respondent, education, occupation, and marital were adjusted, there was still a significant inverse relationship between dietary fiber and the odds of general and abdominal obesity. There was a significant positive association between dietary energy intake and the odds of general and abdominal obesity in both the unadjusted and adjusted models. Conclusion: From the findings, dietary fiber and energy were inversely and positively related to obesity [both general and abdominal], respectively. A previous review suggests that 43% of adult Ghanaians are either obese or overweight [5]
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