Pregnant students and any responses from outside the college were excluded or those who did not answer the weight or height.Ī previous questionnaire developed by Asghar A et al. The study population included 514 medical students of Aleppo university from the first to the sixth year. The targeted population was all medical students from all years of nearly 6000 students. This is a cross-sectional study conducted to assess the prevalence of obesity, dietary habits, and physical activities among medical students at Aleppo University. Study design, setting, participants, and data collection However, this is the first study that assesses the prevalence of obesity and fast food consumption in medical students of Aleppo University in Syria and shows the association between obesity and some daily habits.Ģ.1. Following unhealthy diets by healthcare providers might influence their work performance. Regardless, doctors advise people to follow healthy habits as they do not follow them themselves.

On the contrary, medical students are expected to adopt a healthier lifestyle considering their advanced scientific knowledge of food compounds and their effect on the body. University students were exposed to unhealthy habits for many motivations during their study years, increasing their risk of physical problems. However, fast-food consumption, the massive portion size of the meals, and increased amounts of sugar are undeniably related to overweight and obesity. There is no precise and agreed definition of fast food in the field of scientific research. įast food is pre-packaged food that is usually related to high calories. found that every 5-degree increase in BMI causes a higher mortality rate by 29%, 210% for mortalities because of diabetic Mellitus, and 41% for vascular diseases. BMI is used to estimate obesity and overweight rates where BMI of 30 kg/m2 or higher is considered obese. Due to its high spread throughout recent years, it is now seen as a pandemic with more than 400 million obese people over all the world. ĭuring the past thirty years, the obesity rate has increased to 27.5% for adults and 47.1% for youths. Moreover, food habits, home environment, lifestyle, sleeping times, and daily activities influence the spread of this condition. Nevertheless, it results from hereditary, financial, and social impact factors. However, there are no evident underlying causes for obesity, and its mechanisms are unknown. Obesity is characterized by excessive adipose tissue accumulating in the body it is classed as a risk factor for various diseases, especially cardiovascular diseases.

85 million eat fast food daily