Nutritional Habits  And  Food Consumption Frequency Of Obese And Non Obese Women 
Aktaş   Nazan *,    Seniha Hasipek **
Objective:The prevalence of obesity in Turkish women has dramatically increased for 15 years and it is likely that this is the case in many countries throughout Europe and other parts of the world. The main purpose of this study was to determine obesity incidence and its relation with nutrition habits, fat intake and socio economical status (SES) of the women.
Methods:The study was held on a random sampling of 322 adult women having different SES and living in Zonguldak which is city of west black sea region in Turkey.The data was collected by an interview with help of a questionnaire. Height (cm), body weight (kg) of the subjects were taken in accordance with the standards while body mass index (kg/ m²) (BMI) was calculated with formulas. Minitab packet computer program was used for the analysis of data. The results were evaluated with 95% confidence level and the significance at p<.05 level.
Results: According to the findings of the research, it was found that BMI values of the 51,9% of the women were > 25 kg/ m².Mean weight (x± Sx) of women was 78,20 ±1,14 kg and mean height (x± Sx) was found as 155,88 ± 0,499. 35.93% of women had primary school education, 71,26% were married, 90,43%  were housewives and the ages of 55,08% of them were between 37- 41 years old. Obese women (OW) didn’t make physical activity, (87,43% ), in low, medium and high socio-economical levels the food consumption behavior of OW was fast (32,76%, 35,48%, 53,19% respectively), women from low, medium and high SES usually (78,05%) skipped the lunch and used their own service plate.66,66% of OW belong to low  SES suffered from heart diseases. It was determined that 68,97% of OW belong to low SES prepared meat dishes either by frying or roasting.72,58% of OW belong to medium SES cooked the vegetable by frying.OW were found to consume milk,yoghurt and cheese (41,32%), dry beans (%1,19), bread (90,44%), vegetables (17,38%), sugars (84,38%) daily. Obese and non-obese women (NOW) consume vegetable oils  (respectively OW:88.38%; NOW :84,43%; p>0,05), animal fat (OW:47,71 % ; NOW:55,68 % ; p>0,05), margarine (OW:52,9% ; NOW: 58,06%;  p>,05) every day. There is a significant relation between the frequency of consuming vegetable oils, animal fats and the obesity of the women with low socio-economic level (p<,05). lt was also determined that the differences between being obese or not and the cooking methods of several food groups were statistically significant (p<,05).
Conclusions: In Turkey as it’s in all over the world, the frequency of obesity has been steadily increasing among women. According to the results of our study, it’s obvious that for most of the women not to make physical activity, to prefer frying in order to cook their foods, to use margarine and animal fats in high ratios, their habits not eat on time, to have heart and vessel diseases in high ratios make people think about to take some precautions in order to prevent problems related with nutrition. Healthy nutrition suggestions should be given to all parts of the society by National and international nutrition guides and its continuity should be provided. The obese women must adopt a new atttitude with regard to their nutritional habits and warrant a special attention as an important risk factor for other health problems.
* Asist.Prof.Dr. Selcuk University Faculty of Vocation Education Department of Nutrition Education    Konya/TURKEY   naktas@selcuk.edu.tr
** Retired Prof.Dr. Ankara University Nutrition Science hasipek@agri.ankara.edu.tr