Association of Obesity with Food Habits and Body Image in School Children of Nakhon Pathom Province, Thailand

In order to asse ss the relationsh ip betw een obesity with food habit and body image, this case control study was conductedamong 85 urban primary schoo l children male and female aged 10-12 years old, atte nding anuban school in nakhonpathom prov ince, in thailand. two different que st ionnaires were used for data collec tion for careg ivers and students. thestandard used for definition of ove rweight and obesi ty was body mass index [bmi] . obesity was defined as percentile > = 95th of the sex-specific bmi-for-age growth chart , cdc. obese children commonly (> 4 times per week) ate blanched isteamed food s as well as spicy foods . while sugar consumption was the same betw een the two groups, oil con sumpti onwas higher among the obese gro up. compared with control children, obese children had more snacks before breakfast aswell as dur ing lunch and dinner on weekdays and weekends. normal students had more foods- except for leafy vegeiable and fried bbq snacks. two-thirds of the children knew about the food groups, but only one-third of them could classify food s into the food groups. obese children knew about the food groups and could classify food s better than the way normal children could . children gained inform ation about foods from their parents , teachers, sisters, books, and television. most of obese children knew they were obese, and they were not happy with their status. in co nclusion, programs must be designedto improve nutr ition and in this way, parents and lor caregivers must be involved.