Lifestyle habits and obesity progression in overweight and obese American young adults: Lessons for promoting cardiometabolic health: Lifestyle habits and obesity progression

Obesity among young adults is a growing problem in the United States and is related to unhealthy lifestyle habits such as high caloric intake and inadequate exercise. Accurate assessment of lifestyle habits across obesity stages is important for informing age-specific intervention strategies to prevent and reduce obesity progression. Using a modified version of the Edmonton Obesity Staging System (mEOSS), a new scale for defining obesity risk and predicting obesity morbidity and mortality, this cross sectional study assessed prevalence of mEOSS in 105 overweight/obese young adults and compared young adults’ lifestyle habits across the mEOSS stages. Descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and one-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) were performed. About 80% of participants (n=83) fell into the mEOSS-2 group and had obesity-related chronic disorders such as diabetes, hypertension and/or dyslipidemia. There were significant differences in dietary quality and dietary patterns across the mEOSS stages. Findings highlighted the significance of obesity prevention and early treatment for overweight and obese young adults to prevent/stop obesity progression