Most research has shown that there is a positive relationship between the socio-economic status (SES) of parents and obesity in countries that are in the process of development, i.e. that the higher the level of SES, the higher the percentage of obesity, while in developed countries this relationship is negative .
Pavle Malović, who is employed as an associate at the Nikšić Faculty of Sports and Physical Education, expected that his research, conducted for the purposes of his doctoral thesis, would show such a connection, but he got different results.
"When it comes to socio-economic characteristics, the financial status and level of education of the parents are primarily singled out, which according to the available data are the most relevant indicators of the same, and which can affect the risk of obesity in children. A statistically significantly negative relationship between mothers' education and obesity among adolescent girls was recorded - respondents whose mothers have an intermediate level of education have a 69 percent lower chance of being obese compared to those with a basic level of education, while for those with a higher level of education, that percentage increased to 81 percent. In most households, mothers take responsibility when it comes to food choices and responsibilities based on culinary tasks. There is a very real possibility that the higher level of education of mothers is directly related to quality sources of information, which are characteristic of the digital age in which we live, and to a constructive way of selecting them, thereby forming a clear picture of the importance of healthy lifestyles, which their children would should exercise, within which the consumption of healthy food in optimal quantities is an indispensable factor", pointed out Malović and added that there was no statistically significant difference in the level of education of fathers and high school students.
According to him, with his doctoral dissertation entitled "The influence of the material status of the household and the level of education of parents on the nutrition of adolescents in Montenegro", he focused on the level of nutrition, as one of the main problems of today, and especially from the point of view of obesity, which is already a generally accepted problem. in many countries of the world.
His research showed that high school students in Montenegro are not obese, but compared to the previous research conducted in 2018, the prevalence of obesity has increased, so it is necessary to act preventively in order to stop the growing trend.
The survey included 1.080 first and second grade high school students from all three regions.
"The values of body mass index (BMI) and the ratio of waist circumference to body height (WHtR) were used to assess nutritional status, and a difference between the obtained values was observed when these two indicators were compared. The obtained data indicated that the respondents included in this research are in the category of excessive nutrition and obesity according to the BMI index (M - 27,1%; F - 15,4%), but not according to the WHtR (M - 16,7 ,12,2%; F - 2%). The main limitation of BMI is that it does not separate muscle from adipose tissue during calculation and does not provide data on the distribution of fat in certain body segments. WHtR is considered to be one of the most reliable indices for assessing obesity, and the importance of accurate assessment is reflected in the assertion that people with more centrally distributed fat are more susceptible to chronic non-communicable diseases than those with more peripherally distributed fat. In favor of the above is also the fact that in many studies it was confirmed that WHtR was a better predictor of certain chronic non-communicable diseases, first of all diabetes mellitus type XNUMX, which is closely associated with obesity, compared to other indicators, among which BMI was found ", explains Malović.
As he pointed out, the latest data available on the website of the World Health Organization show that in 2022, over 360 million children and adolescents were overnourished, while 160 million of them were obese.
"Influencing the reduction of the degree of overnutrition and obesity significantly contributes to the reduction of chronic non-communicable diseases for which obesity is one of the key prerequisites, and in this way direct material benefits in society related to financial allocations for the procurement of therapies for accompanying diseases would be realized , primarily for patients with diabetes mellitus type 2. It would also reduce the number of patients with myocardial infarction, stroke, kidney failure, as well as deaths.
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