Author(s): Dr. Anindita Dey

Abstract:
Environmental risk factors for overweight and obesity are very strong and inter-related. Sub-optimal cognitive stimulation at home and poor socio-economic status predict development of obesity. Parental food choices significantly modify child food preferences, and degree of parental adiposity is a surrogate for children’s fat preferences. Children and adolescents of poor socio-economic status tend to consume less quantities of fruits and vegetables and to have a higher intake of total and saturated fat. Early rebound of BMI is linked to glucose intolerance and diabetes in adults. There is evidence stating that individual’s eating and physical activity behaviours are heavily influenced by surrounding social and physical environmental contexts both for adults and children. Urbanization related intake behaviours that have been shown to promote obesity include frequent consumption of meals at fast-food outlets, consumption of oversized portions at home and at restaurants, consumption of high calorie foods, such as high-fat, low-fibre foods, and intake of sweetened beverages. These behaviours are cultivated in an environment in which high calorie food is abundant, affordable, available, and easy to consume with minimal preparation as is the case of urban cities throughout the country. Television viewing and other sedentary activities have also been related to childhood obesity. Unfortunately this habit is growing exponentially in developing countries as well. Low levels of physical activity is definitely promoted by an automated and automobile-oriented environment that is conducive to a sedentary lifestyle. The present study emphasises on the effect of economic condition on the Body Mass Index of adolescents. The size of the sample is 100 comprising 50, 15 to 18 year old adolescents and 50, 35 to 38 year old adult, men and women drawn from the population. Stratified random sampling technique was used for sample selection. Percentage, Mean, Standard Deviation and correlation coefficient was calculated for the entire sample and also for the age groups separately. The study tried to find out the effect of economic condition on the Body Mass Index of the subjects.