Background: Overweight and obesity among preschool children has received worldwide attention, partly in response to concerns about the increasing prevalence of obesity globally and partly as a result of the association between childhood obesity and the long term increases in mortality and morbidity. Aims & Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate whether obesity among preschool children in Bahrain was considered to be a real problem and to identify the risk factors contributing to overweight children. Material and Methods: Data for 387 children on the prevalence of overweight and obesity were retrieved from local health centre's databases retrospectively. In this cross-sectional study, four different local health centers distributed across the country were randomly selected. The BMI-forage references by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Z score references by World Health Organization (WHO)/ National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) were used to classify the weight status of the children. Results: We examined 387 records of children from 3 to 60 months old, of which 15025 were registered within four health centers which were selected for this study. Based on the BMI percentile, 9.8% were at risk of being overweight, while 5.2% were considered obese. However, by using the BMI-forage Z score; we found that 12.1% were at risk of being overweight and 2.6% were obese. Children's aged from 18 to 24 months reported the highest prevalence of overweight and obesity 6.1%, on the other hand children aged from 9 to 12 months were more at risk of being overweight 20.3%, p = 0.05. Conclusion: The results in this study indicate that the prevalence of overweight and obesity among preschool children in the Kingdom of Bahrain is comparable to other countries such as Germany, China, and Kuwait.

PurposeBreakfast skipping by children, with its varying global prevalence and associated factors, is well documented to adversely affect their health, cognitive ability, academic performance and anthropometric status. Libya, a country with a young population base, has limited information on breakfast skipping prevalence among its young citizens as well as its compounding factors unique to the country. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the breakfast skipping pattern among Benghazi primary school children.Design/methodology/approachThe paper's approach is to use a cross sectional study among 386 primary school children (196 males and 190 females) using an interviewer‐administered structured questionnaire. The enrolment exclusion criteria were a pre‐existing chronic disease or a food allergy or food intolerance or any acute illness.FindingsBreakfast skipping during weekdays (38.6 per cent, n=149), reduced drastically on weekends (1.0 per cent, n=4); 10.7 per cent subjects skipped breakfast daily (mean 2.5 + 1.3 days). Absence of hunger and lack of time to eat or prepare breakfast were cited as main barriers in its regular consumption. Bread and milk were the most commonly consumed breakfast foods. Certain groups of regular breakfast eating subjects consumed higher (p < 0.05) dietary thiamine and iron than their breakfast skipping counterparts and also better fulfilled their daily requirements for these nutrients. Parental breakfast eating habits influenced their children's breakfast eating pattern.Practical implicationsEfforts, including better time management, are required to inculcate a positive breakfast eating attitude among Benghazi primary school children. Their parents need to act as better role models by adopting healthy breakfast eating practices themselves.Originality/valueThe paper shows that breakfast skipping among Benghazi primary school children is a nutritional problem of grave concern, warranting a public health intervention.