Problem nadwagi i otyłości – skala zjawiska oraz czynniki ryzyka
Overweight and obesity – the scale of the phenomenon and risk factors

Summary/Abstract: Obesity and overweight are classified as lifestyle diseases of the 21st century. Their universality justifies the need to identify the factors which contribute to excessive body weight. The aim of the paper is to determine the scale of the overweight and obesity phenomenon in European countries and, as mentioned above, to identify the factors contributing to it. The research examined socio-economic factors, fruit and vegetable consumption, sugar and fat consumption, smoking tobacco and alcohol consumption, length of sleep and time spent in front of the TV, energy dose supplied by food and the level of physical activity. The study uses the BMI (body mass index), which is the elementary determiner of the regularity or irregularity of body weight. The analysis is based on the data from the OECD bases for 2013–2015 and from Eurostat for 2014. The applied Spearman correlation revealed statistically significant, strong dependencies among the explanatory variables (i.e. between the consumption of fruit per capita and the consumption of fat per capita, between the income per capita and regular sports activity, between the fat consumption per capita and the level of education, and between the level of education and the consumption of fruit and vegetables per capita). The results of the factor analysis demonstrated that in European countries, the phenomenon of excessive body weight is caused by lack of physical activity.

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