Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Mar 9;13(3):307.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph13030307.

Adolescent Overweight and Obesity: Links to Socioeconomic Status and Fruit and Vegetable Intakes

Jihyun You  1 , Jina Choo  2
Affiliations

Adolescent Overweight and Obesity: Links to Socioeconomic Status and Fruit and Vegetable Intakes

Jihyun You et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Whether adolescent overweight/obesity is linked to socioeconomic status (SES) and fruit and vegetable (F/V) intakes has not been confirmed. We aimed to determine whether there is an association between SES and adolescent overweight/obesity and to test the mediating effect of F/V intakes. This cross-sectional study included the data of 63,111 adolescents extracted from the 2013 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey. Overweight/obesity was defined as a body mass index ≥ 85th percentile, while F/V intakes were categorized as high (recommended levels: ≥ 1 fruit serving and ≥ 3 vegetable servings per day) versus low. Among girls, low SES (beta = 0.50, p < 0.001) and F/V intakes (beta = -0.17, p = 0.038) were both significantly associated with overweight/obesity; the former association was significantly mediated by F/V intakes (Sobel test: z = 2.00, p = 0.046). Among boys, neither SES nor F/V intakes was significantly associated with overweight/obesity. Adolescent overweight/obesity was significantly linked to low SES and F/V intakes among girls only; low SES indirectly increased the risk of overweight/obesity via low F/V intakes. Therefore, promoting F/V intakes for socially disadvantaged girls should be prioritized as a population-based strategy for preventing adolescent overweight/obesity in South Korea.

Keywords: adolescent; fruit and vegetable intake; obesity; overweight; social class.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Adolescent overweight/obesity linked to socioeconomic status and fruit and vegetable intakes in adolescent girls: Testing for a mediating effect of fruit/vegetable intakes on the association between SES and overweight/obesity using a logistic regression analysis (a) Direct pathway from low SES to overweight/obesity; (b) Indirect pathway from low SES to overweight/obesity via fruit/vegetable intakes. B: standardized regression coefficient
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kosti R.I., Panagiotakos D.B. The epidemic of obesity in children and adolescents in the world. Cent. Eur. J. Public Health. 2006;14:151–159. - PubMed
    1. Ogden C.L., Carroll M.D., Kit B.K., Flegal K.M. Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011–2012. JAMA. 2014;311:806–814. doi: 10.1001/jama.2014.732. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ogden C.L., Flegal K.M., Carroll M.D., Johnson C.L. Prevalence and trends in overweight among US children and adolescents, 1999–2000. JAMA. 2002;288:1728–1732. doi: 10.1001/jama.288.14.1728. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ministry of Health and Welfare, Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention . 2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Ministry of Health and Welfare, Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Seoul, Korea: 2012.
    1. Deshmukh-Taskar P., Nicklas T.A., Morales M., Yang S.J., Zakeri I., Berenson G.S. Tracking of overweight status from childhood to young adulthood: The Bogalusa Heart Study. Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 2006;60:48–57. doi: 10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602266. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources