Prevalence and Predictors of Obesity among 7- to 17-Year-Old Schoolchildren in Urban Arusha, Tanzania

Table 4

Participants’ dietary habits and their weight status.

Food items	Under		Norm		Over		Obese		Overall
	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Snacks
Ate highly processed snacks	15	17.9	55	65.5	2	2.4	12	14.2	84	100
Ate less processed snack	29	21.3	78	57.4	7	5.1	22	16.2	136	100
Did not eat snack	9	19.2	33	70.2	1	2.1	4	8.5	47	100
Ate less or highly processed snacks	2	5.7	27	77.1	2	5.7	4	11.5	35	100
Ate sugar-coated snacks	4	11.8	21	61.7	5	14.7	4	11.8	34	100
Meal frequency
Skipped breakfast	12	20.7	36	62.1	4	6.9	6	10.3	58	100
Skipped lunch	7	19.4	23	63.9	3	8.3	3	8.3	36	100
Did not skip meal	40	18.1	134	60.6	10	4.5	37	16.7	221	100
Eating places
Ate at home	32	18.8	99	58.2	9	5.3	30	17.6	170	100
Ate at home or away from home	27	16.4	114	69.1	8	4.8	16	9.7	165	100
Eating lunch at home
Ate lunch meal every day at home	36	18.9	120	63.2	9	4.7	25	13.2	190	100
Ate lunch often away from home	23	15.7	94	64.4	8	5.5	21	14.4	146	100
School dietary preference
Ate fried foods	27	21.8	81	65.3	3	2.4	13	10.5	124	100
Ate refined boiled maize	17	14.9	80	70.2	6	5.3	11	9.6	114	100
Ate nothing	1	20	3	60	0	0	1	20	5	100
Ate any food	11	13.6	44	54.3	8	9.9	18	22.2	81	100
Ate food containing more sugars	3	25	6	50	0	0	3	25	12	100