An Empirical Analysis of Factors Affecting Obesity in the Alabama Black Belt and Surrounding Counties

Abstract

Overweight and obesity have been major challenges over the last several decades. The study analyzed factors affecting obesity in the Alabama Black Belt and surrounding counties. Using a questionnaire, data were obtained from a convenience sample of 273 participants from several counties, and analyzed using descriptive statistics and ordinal logit analysis. The results show that a majority of participants affirmed that nutritional claim factors, purchasing behavior/food product factors, food safety factors, and healthy lifestyle factors are related to obesity. The results also show that age, race/ethnicity, “light” labeled food, nutritional label, low content carbohydrate food, and price are contributing factors to obesity. Furthermore, regular fitness activity and eating fruits and vegetables regularly had negative relationships with obesity, and therefore, can contribute to lowering the prevalence of obesity. Consequently, it was recommended that these eight factors should be considered in obesity education programs for residents in the study area.