Influencing Factors of the Body Mass Index of Elementary Students in Southern Taiwan

Abstract

The body mass index (BMI) of school children in Taiwan is markedly increasing. According to statistical data from the Taiwan Ministry of Education, the prevalence of obesity in school children from the southern part of the country is the highest in Taiwan. Thus, exploring the factors influencing BMI in elementary school children from southern Taiwan is crucial. This study investigated the influencing factors including physical activity levels, sedentary behaviors, dietary habits, and perceived body shape on the BMIs of elementary school children from southern Taiwan. A cross-sectional design was used, and the participants consisted of 3251 fifth-grade students (1628 boys, 50.1%; 1623 girls, 49.9%). The average BMI values for boys and girls were 19.69 and 18.70 (kg/cm) respectively. Statistically significant associations were observed between BMI and sex, 31–60 min of daily vigorous or moderate physical activities levels, length of time spent watching television, time spent on video games or the computer, and intake of vegetable or meat gravy with rice (p < 0.001). Perceived body shape also affected the BMI of school children. The results of this study enable educational institutions in Taiwan to understand the factors affecting the BMI of school children and use this information as the basis for future healthy body weight policies.

Video Games, Obesity, and Children

“…Sample sizes of included studies ranged from 91 to 24,800 (median: 938), and half of studies were conducted in Canada (n=7) or the US (n=6). The youngest age range included was 2-13 years [29], as most focused on the 10-12 year old age range [28,30,36,[45][46][47]49] or included a broad age range of adolescents ages 11-18 years old [20,26,27,32,37,39,42]. The oldest data were collected in 2001 [35], and the most recent data collection was 2015 [48], with all other studies occurring between these time points.…”

“…There were patterns distinguishing the articles that did or did not observe a significant association of video game play with obesity. Articles that found a positive association between video game play and obesity typically collected data after 2012 [20,[45][46][47][48][49] except for one where data were collected in 2009 [39,40]. Articles reporting a positive association also typically combined video games with other screen devices (namely mobile phones and computer use), making it difficult to parse out the independent relationship of video game play and obesity aside from these other types of screen-time [47,48].…”

Can Physical Activity in Immersive Virtual Reality Be Attractive and Have Sufficient Intensity to Meet Health Recommendations for Obese Children? A Pilot Study

“…Video games are especially attractive to children. Unfortunately, numerous studies have demonstrated that overweight and obesity may be attributable to a long time spent playing video games [4][5][6][7][8][9]. An advantageous alternative to conventional computer games is offered by active video games (AVGs), sometimes called exergames.…”

Food and nutrient provision in preschools: Comparison of public and private preschools

“…In Taiwan, the availability of a high-fat and high-energy diet has steadily risen in recent years (Chou and Chen, 2017). The obesity problem has become an important public health issue.…”

“…The obesity problem has become an important public health issue. The prevalence of obesity was 29.72% in school children (Chou and Chen, 2017), and overweight and obese children are likely to stay obese into adulthood (Bray, 1996). The World Health Organization (WHO) classified obesity as a chronic disease.…”