Relationship of Sociodemographic Factors and Dietary Practices with Body Mass Index among Saudi Adults.

Background: Obesity prevalence has tremendously increased in the last decades among the adult population as a consequence of drastic lifestyle changes, improvements in socioeconomic status, and cultural changes. Objective: to explore sociodemographic factors and dietary practice trends and relation to cut-off body mass index (BMI) among young adults. Result: A total of 250 subjects participated in cross-sectional study, and 37.6% belonged (21-30 years) and 19.2% (41-50 years) in age group, respectively, with a mean age of 32.1 ± 12.7 years. BMI comprises 26.2 ± 6.2 kg/m2, with a range of 16.9-43.9 kg/m2. The prevalence of overweight (36.8%) and obesity (17.6%) was compared to normal BMI (45.6%). Conclusion: Most of overweight and obesity subjects have poor Dietary Practice Score. The change in the diet from the traditional healthy food to the more modern, westernized but unhealthy diet, has attributed to the growing increase of obesity among the Saudi population.