Linking diet and obesity among young people living in Sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review

Obesity has been increasing even among young people in developing countries, with unhealthy diets widely recognized as a major contributor to the rising risk of obesity and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs). This review aimed to assess the relationship between diet-related practices and obesity amongst young people in Sub-Saharan Africa.

A review protocol was developed a priori and registered with PROSPERO (CRD42023451525). This study followed PRISMA guidelines to search and select studies based on pre-defined eligibility criteria from African Journals Online, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases. Out of 2,809 screened citations, data were extracted from 19 eligible peer-reviewed studies published in English between 2000 and 2024. These studies focused on children and adolescents aged 3-19 years and examined the association between dietary habits or practices and elevated anthropometric status.

Results showed that the selected studies were cross-sectional in design, typically conducted among fewer than 500 children from Nigeria (31.6%), Ghana (15.8%), and South Africa (15.8%). Food frequency questionnaires, 24-h recall instruments, the WHO growth reference, and Waist-Hip assessment dominated dietary pattern/intake and anthropometric methods. Negative dietary patterns/habits characterized by meal skipping and irregular meal patterns, discretionary food and beverage consumption, less-varied diets, and unhealthy urban/school food environments were significant (p < 0.05) predictors of obesity.

Dietary intake was significantly associated with Obesity. Promoting healthy diet-related practices is needed to improve children and adolescents' nutrition and health outcomes.

https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD42023451525.