Socio-economic development, level of urbanization and consumption of selected food products as factors in the prevalence of overweight and obesity among youths and young adults in Poland.

Abstract

Introduction and objective: Obesity and overweight among teenagers and young adults pose serious problems for the Polish health care system. The aim of this study was to assess the relationships between the prevalence of overweight and obesity and the level of urbanization, consumption of selected food products and socio-economic development in the provinces in Poland.

Material and methods: The material used in this study is based on data published by the Central Statistics Office (GUS) for population, components of the Human Development Index (HDI), urbanization level (URBI), average monthly consumption of selected food products per person, and the percentage of obese and overweight people in the Polish provinces. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in all 16 provinces was analysed in the context of the URBI, HDI, and the average monthly consumption of selected food products.

Results: There was no a statistically significant correlation between the number of overweight and obesity cases and the levels of HDI and URBI. The negative correlations were found between the consumption of sugar and URBI (-0,710, p=0.002), bread and grain product consumption (-0.642; p=0.007) and fresh milk consumption (-0.594; p=0.015). Fish consumption correlated with URBI at a moderate level (0.550; p=0.027). The consumption of oils and fats strongly correlated with HDI (-0.788; p < 0,001). In the group of overweight woman, a moderate negative correlation was noted (-0.511; p=0.043) in cheese and curd consumption.

Conclusions: The high level of economic development and urbanization have no direct impact on the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Poland. The results of the study indicate existing dependencies of the consumption of some of selected products with respect to the level of urbanization.