Association between Dietary Habits and Body Mass Index to Female Students College Sciences and Arts Campus 1 at Khamis Mushayt King Khalid University

Background: In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), recent studies revealed increasing consumption of animal products and refined foods in the diet at the expense of vegetables and fruits. These dietary changes were accused of increasing the prevalence of both overweight and obesity observed among Saudi children, adolescences and adults in the last few decades. Objectives: The present study was a cross sectional study aimed at exploring the BMI distribution among students of college of Sciences and Arts for girls Khamis Mushayt Campus 1 at King Khalid University (KKU) and investigated how Dietary habits of students female affected body mass index (BMI). Methods: A total of 240 female students aged 18 - 22 years were about 25% from total students randomly chosen from college of Arts and Science Campus 1 at Khamis Mushayt, King Khalid University, KSA for the present study. A self-reported questionnaire about the student’s dietary habits was conducted and their body mass index (BMI) was measured. Data were analyzed using SPSS statistical software and Chi-square test conducted for variables. Results: About half of the students (47%) were within normal weight, 27.4% were under weight, 16% were overweight and 9.6% were categorized obese. The majority of the students reported eating meals with their family while more than half of sample (58.7%) had eating meals during watching TV. It was worth mentioning that 84.5% of students reported eating snacks such as chocolate and chips 3 or more times per week. There were no significant differences between BMI category and dietary habits. Conclusion and Recommendations: There were no significant difference between body mass index category and dietary habits. Increasing educational programs introduced healthy dietary concepts to improve the dietary habits of female students.