Article Review On Obesity And Eating Habits

Garriguet, D. (2008) Obesity and the eating habits of the aboriginal population. Component of Statistics Canada. Retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-003 x/2008001/article/10487-eng.pdf
The purpose of the study was evaluating the rates of obesity and overweight and the eating habits of aboriginal and non-aboriginal individuals. According to the researcher, obesity prevalence in Canada has increased significantly in the past 25 years, a global occurrence that the World Health Organization has depicted as an epidemic. The main idea of the study is establishing how eating habits are related to health disorders, especially obesity/overweight. The researcher hypothesizes that good eating habits are likely to reduce chances of an individual becoming obese/overweight; and bad eating habits are likely to increase chances of an individual becoming obese/overweight.
In this study, a case study research design was applied, and specifically and exploratory case study research design. As mentioned above, the researcher was interested in assessing how eating habits between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people is related to the obesity/overweight problem within a limited region. The sample used in the study involved a group of individuals between the age of 19 to 50 years within western and Ontario provinces. A cross-sectional analysis was applied in approximating the number of people who were suffering from the obese/overweight problem as well as the standard nutrient consumption. The researcher relied on data collected 2004 following the Canadian Community Health Survey: Nutrition. Logistic regression was applied as the major instrument of analysis in the entire study.
The results of the study indicated that in 2004, a large number of the aboriginal people within the age bracket of 19 to 50 years were obese/overweight as compared to the non-aboriginal people in the same age bracket. The results further indicated that more aboriginal individuals between 19 and 30 years are more likely to be suffering from obesity than is the case in their non-aboriginal counterparts. According to the investigations carried out, these differences are most attributed to high calorie consumption among the aboriginal people. Furthermore, consumption of fast foods, especially snacks, was found to the main cause of the obesity/overweight problem among most individuals.
The study concluded that poor eating habits, especially high consumption of high calorie rich foods such as snacks and other fast foods, are more likely to cause obesity/overweight among individuals between 19 and 50. Besides, in active leisure time was also found to be another factor that is likely to cause obesity. This indicated that good eating habits together with active leisure are likely to reduce chances of an individual becoming obese. Arguably, the hypothesis was well supported by the study because the study clearly illustrates the relationship between healthy eating and obese/overweight among the aboriginal and non-aboriginal people.
One of the major limitations of the study was the nature of data that was applied in the analysis. For instance, the weight of individuals who took part in the study of 2004 as respondents could not be directly measured. As such, there is a possibility of biasness in the data used. In addition, obesity and overweight was measured using the body mass index (BMI), which has various problems. This index is well suited within the population level context, but not at the individual level. Lastly, nutrition information is self-reported, and in most cases chances are that respondents may not remember which food and how much of it they took.