Association between Mindful Eating and Obesity, Nutritional Status among 6th Grade Medical School Students

Purpose This study aimed to examine the association between mindful eating, obesity, and nutritional status (low diet quality) among 6th year medical students of the Dokuz Eylül University Medical School.

The population of this cross-sectional study consisted of 303 interns studying at the Dokuz Eylül Medical School, for the year 2020-2021. No sampling method was applied; instead, the entire population was targeted. The dependent variable was presence of obesity determined by the body mass index and low diet quality determined by the Mediterranean Diet Quality Scale (KIDMED). The Independent variable was mindful eating determined by the Mindful Eating Questionnaire (MEQ-30). Possible confounding factors include socio-demografic characteristics, health status, dietary behaviour, the presence of obesity in the family, physical activity status. The data were collected through an online survey form. The percentage distributions of the descriptive variables were presented with mean±standard deviations, Chi-Square and Multiple Logistic Regression Analysis were used in order to determine casuality.

The mean age of 245 interns reached was 23.9±1.2 (range 22-30), 42.9% of whom were women. The mean total YFO-30 scores were 98.3±11.3. The frequency of obesity was 4.1%. In this study, 44.9% of the students had low diet quality. According to the Logistic Regression Analysis the risk of being overweight or obese was significantly higher 3.4 (OR:3.44 [95%CI:1.06-11.16] p= 0.039) times in those aged 26 and over, 10.7 (OR:10.70 [95%CI:4.50-25.47] p<0.001) times in males, 2.5 (OR:2.53 [95%CI: 1.27-5.03] p=0.008) times in those with obese individuals in the family; the risk of low diet quality is meaningfully higher 2,1 (OR:2.08 [95%CI:1.16-3.74] p=0.014) times in males, 3.0 (OR:2.95 [95%CI:1.22-7.17] p=0.005) times those whose income is lower than their expenses, 3.1 (OR:3.12 [95%CI:1.42-6.87] p=0.005) times in those that are living with their friends.

Frequency of obesity was low, low diet quality was high in 6th grade medical students. There was no significant relationship between mindful eating and low diet quality and obesity. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Funding Statement This study did not receive any funding. Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: All participants were informed about the aim and methods of the study, and signed an informed consent. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and the protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Non-Interventional Research Ethics Committee of Dokuz Eylul University (Date: 19/10/2020; Decision No:2020/26-35). I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes Data Availability All data produced in the present work are contained in the manuscript file:///Users/ecem/Downloads/678939.pdf