This survey was conducted to investigate the relation of children´s obesity index to their mothers´ food habit during the October in 1995. The survey covered a total of 492 mothers whose children were in the fifth grade of elementary schools in Cheju City area.
The results are summarized as follows:
1. The surveyed children´s average WLI(Weight-Length Index) is 107.08. WLI shows that 16.1% of them are overweight, 16.1% obese and 49.8% ideally weighted. The mothers´ average BMI(Body Mass Index) is 22.4. 21.8% of them are underweight and 69.4% normal. The children´s obesity index is significantly correlated to their fathers´, but not significant to their mothers´.
2. As to the food habit I (balance of nutrients intake), 58.4% of the mothers have ´excellent´ or ´good´ food habit and the mean score is 14.95 out of maximum possible score 24.0. Concerning to the food habit II (intake of sugar, fat and salt etc.), 87.4% of mothers have ´good´ or ´fair´ food habit and the mean score of is 13.34 out of maximum (possible score) 20.0. The mothers´ food habit I and II, as a whole, have no significant effect on the children´s obesity index, but in some items the significant relations are founded. The children´s obesity index is significantly related to the intake of eggs (P<0.05) and pan-broiled or fried foods (P<0.05). The amount of mothers´ food intake is significantly relevant to their obesity index (P<0.001), but not significantly to their children´s. The food habit of mothers who have taken midnight snack almost every day are significantly related to their children´s obesity index (P<0.05).
The findings of the study emphasize the importance of the nutrition education to ensure health and better physical fitness for children and their mothers.
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