Journal of Obesity & Weight Loss Therapy
Open Access

Research Article

Nutritional Status, Weight Misperception and Body Weight Dissatisfaction in a Population of Young Adult Nigerians

¹Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State, Nigeria

²Department of Chemistry, Federal College of Education, Cross-River State, Nigeria

³Department of Home Science, Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Nigeria, Enugu State, Nigeria

*Corresponding Author:

Chukwunonso ECC Ejike, PhD
Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences
Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo, PMB 1010, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria
Tel: +234(0)803 606 6777
E-mail: nonsoejikeecc@yahoo.com

Received date: April 14, 2017; Accepted date: May 22, 2017; Published date: May 24, 2017

Citation: Ejike CECC, Eze KC, Onuoha NO (2017) Nutritional Status, Weight Misperception and Body Weight Dissatisfaction in a Population of Young Adult Nigerians. J Obes Weight Loss Ther 7:339. doi:10.4172/2165-7904.1000339

Copyright: © 2017 Ejike CECC, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Objective: Though overweight/obesity has been reported by several authors in Nigeria, weight misperception and dissatisfaction has been scarcely studied and reported. The prevalence of overweight/obesity, weight misperception and dissatisfaction was therefore investigated in 1,030 students (51% females) of a Nigerian tertiary school.

Methods: Self-reported age and perception of each subject’s weight status and weight preference were recorded. Anthropometric data were collected using standard protocol and body mass index (BMI) calculated. Appropriate statistical tools were used for data analyses.

Results: A total of 21.2% (22.0% males; 20.4% females) of the population were overweight/obese; while 2.3% (1.6% males, 3.1% females) were thin. Weight misperception was found in 33.4% (33.3% females; 33.6% males) of the population while 23.8% (23.9% females; 23.8% males) had body weight dissatisfaction (BWD). Almost all (99%) of the overweight subjects, and 0.8% of the normal weight subjects, had BWD. There were no significant differences (P>0.05) in prevalence between the sexes.

Conclusion: Weight misperception and dissatisfaction are prevalent in this predominantly lean population. This is worrisome because affected subjects may adopt inappropriate weight-loss habits leading to possible deleterious consequences.

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