Introduction: Obesity in childhood and adolescence is a significant public health issue, associated with increased morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. The search for effective strategies to combat obesity has spurred the development of e-health technologies, which objectively record behavioral data and correlate them with factors that increase body mass index (BMI). The aim of our study was to assess the dietary habits of children and adolescents with overweight and obesity in Greece. Methods: Eight hundred eighty (n = 880) children and adolescents (mean age ± SD: 12.226 ± 1.972 years, 453 males, 427 females) participated in the study prospectively. Based on BMI, subjects were classified as having obesity (n = 658, 74.8%) and overweight (n = 222, 25.2%) according to the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) cut-off points. Participants’ medical history and anthropometric data were collected, and caregivers completed the self-administered ToyBox food frequency questionnaire. Results: Boys were more likely to have obesity (78.4% vs. 71%, p=0.011) and girls were more likely to be overweight (29% vs. 21.6%, p=0.011). The consumption of cereal without added sugar was higher across both BMI categories than the consumption of cereal with added sugar (p=0.016). In both groups, the majority of participants consumed more than 115g of meat and poultry (p=0.019) with an increased frequency of 2–4 times per week (p=0.034). Boys consumed more water, light beverages, vegetables, meat, fried potatoes and chocolate spread than girls (p<0.05). Conclusions: These findings provide information on the dietary habits of children with overweight and obesity in our country, and may help develop guidelines for the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity.
Petrou et al. (Wed,) studied this question.