[Comparison of dietary habits in obese and thin women using the food frequency questionnaire].

Introduction: Imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure, influenced as well as by eating pattern, contributes to the development of obesity. The aim of retrospective "case-control" study was to compare dietary pattern of 246 obese women (O, BMI = 36.2 +/- 7.4 kg/m2) with 108 control, normal weight, women (C, BMI = 22.8 +/- 3.3 kg/m2). The examined groups were randomly selected according Body Mass Index from non dieting population.

Methods: The administration of Food frequency questionnaire [1] was used, evaluating three months period before administration. The eating patterns in the form of relative representation of the main food commodities, based on intake frequencies (RRFCI), were calculated using special mathematical procedure and were compared using the non-pair two sides' t-test.

Results: O performed significantly lower absolute number of intake of non-drink food per month (p = 0.01). RRFCI in the eating patterns of O and C is summarized in the next table: [table: see text]

Conclusion: Obese women showed significantly higher relative number of frequencies of intake of meat and dairy products and lower proportion of frequencies of intake of cereals, free fat, sweets in their eating patterns in comparison to normal weight women.