Relationship of Eating Behaviors with Age, Anthropometric Measurements, and Body Composition Parameters among Professional Indian Women

ABSTRACT

One hundred volunteer female college teachers were selected from Jalandhar, Punjab, India. General obesity was found in 56.6%, 76.9%, and 76.2%, abdominal obesity in 56.6%, 57.7%, and 81.0%, of 30- to 39-year-old (Group I), 40- to 49-year-old, (Group II) and 50- to 59-year-old (Group III) participants, respectively. A significantly (p ≤ .05) lower mean value of uncontrolled eating domain was observed in the participants belonging to Group I in comparison to Groups II and III. The cognitive restraint was less in Group III (13.71%), followed by Group II (14.04%) and I (13.71%). The mean values of emotional eating domain revealed not much difference in Group I (12.19%), Group II (12.65%), and Group III (12.00%). Adiposity showed a significant (p ≤ .10, .05) relationship with age and eating behaviors. In conclusion, lesser cognitive dietary restraint and emotional eating were the variables associated with adiposity in the participants.

KEYWORDS:

• Body mass index
• cognitive dietary restraint
• emotional eating
• uncontrolled eating
• waist circumference