Experiences of Health Related Lifestyles in High Body Fat but Non-obese Female College Students in Korea

The effect of physical activity intervention and nutritional habits on anthropometric measures in elementary school children: the health oriented pedagogical project (HOPP)

BACKGROUND

Overweight and obesity are a burden of the modern world that requires urgent action. Prevention has proven to be efficient in the fight against overweight and obesity. As many children gain excessive weight at an early age, intervention during school years are important. While daily physical activity (PA) is known to have an influence on overweight and obesity prevention, the importance of a healthy lifestyle, including dietary habits, should not be underestimated. The aim of this study was to assess how a combination of daily PA and healthy/unhealthy diet affect the anthropometric measures of 4th graders in Norway.

METHODS

The Health Oriented Pedagogical Project (HOPP) is a longitudinal intervention in primary school children, which includes increased amount of daily physical activity during teaching- active learning. Assessed were weight, muscle and bone mass, as well as fat mass, using a bio-impedance Tanita scale. A dietary survey, Ungkost 2000, with 18 multiple-choice questions was used to evaluate the overall nutrition characteristics of the children.

RESULTS

Between 2015 and 2018, a total of 917 (intervention group n = 614, control group n = 303) 4th graders from nine different schools from the south-east part of Norway participated. We observed that daily PA and a regular healthy diet increases-while an unhealthy diet decreases-muscle and bone mass despite daily PA. Daily PA appears to counteract some of the effects of an unhealthy diet on weight and fat mass. In addition, daily PA and a regular intake of fruits and berries lowers weight and fat mass in children with overweight.

CONCLUSION

Combination of daily 45-minute of PA and a healthy diet leads to reductions in body weight and incease in muscle and bone mass in elementary school children.

Experiences in healthy dieting of male college students with obesity in Korea

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this study was to describe and understand experiences of healthy dieting in male college students with obesity.

METHODS

The interview data were collected from nine male students and analyzed by using descriptive phenomenology of Colaizzi. The procedural steps described the phenomenon of interest, collected participants' descriptions of the phenomenon, extracted the meaning of significant statements, organized the meanings into clusters, wrote exhaustive descriptions, and then incorporated data into an exhaustive description.

RESULTS

The findings in 246 restatements, 47 constructed meanings, 31 themes, eight theme clusters, and four categories were deduced. The four categories were "Uneasiness at interpersonal relationships", "Developing durability in dieting strategies", "Practicing healthy diets based on information", and "Perceived on healthy diets as a whole health support strategies".

CONCLUSION

This study described experiences in healthy dieting of male college students who were discharged from military services. These findings have important implications for understanding healthy dieting in young men and must be considered in developing health promotion in youth.