Relationship between eating behavior and obesity among Chinese adults

Abstract

Objective: To study the relationship between eating behavior and obesity among Chinese adults. Methods: Data were collected from 171 040 people who had been engaged in the 2013 China Chronic and Non-communicable Disease and Risk Factors Surveillance project. Rao-Scott χ(2) test and complex sampling design were used to compare the differences in the rates of eating behavior and obesity. A binary logistic regression model based on complex sampling design was used to investigate the relationship between eating behavior at three meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and obesity. Results: The proportion (3.3%) of skipping breakfast appeared the highest. Proportions of eating out for all the three meals were 16.4%, 21.4% and 11.7%, respectively. The prevalence rates of obesity among men who ate lunch at home, ate out or skipped the lunch were 13.2%, 16.1% and 15.9%, respectively. The prevalence rates of obesity among women who ate lunch at home, ate out or skipped lunch were 14.5%, 9.8%, 19.6%, respectively. Results from the multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that eating out for lunch and skipping lunch were both positively correlated with obesity in men (eating out for lunch: OR=1.10, 95%CI: 1.02-1.18; skipping lunch: OR=1.36, 95%CI: 1.02-1.80) while skipping lunch was positively associated with obesity (OR=1.47, 95%CI:1.07-2.02) in women. No statistical association was noticed between eating out for lunch and obesity in women, with OR=0.86 (95%CI: 0.73-1.00). Both eating out for dinner and skipping dinner were positively correlated with obesity in men, with eating out for lunch as OR=1.19 (95%CI: 1.06-1.34) and skipping dinner as OR=1.89 (95%CI: 1.07-3.33). Avoid dinner was positively associated with obesity in women, with OR=1.64 (95%CI: 1.02-2.63). Women who ate out for dinner showed lower risk of obesity than those who ate at home with OR=0.74 (95%CI: 0.59-0.94). Conclusions: Different eating behaviors were seen in Chinese adults, with the highest proportion of eating out for lunch and the lowest proportion for dinner. Both eating out for lunch and dinner appeared risk factors of obesity in men while avoid lunch or dinner were both associated with obesity in both sex.