Eating behavior in relation to prevalence of overweight among Japanese men

Obesity is an important risk factor for lifestyle diseases. There has been much interest in the role of eating behavior in the development of obesity, but findings from population-based epidemiologic studies are limited and inconsistent. The objective of our cross-sectional study was to examine the association between eating behavior and prevalence of overweight. Subjects were 290 men of two municipal offices in northeastern Kyusyu, Japan. A positive association was found between overweight and some eating behaviors; multivariate-adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for overweight were 4.33 (2.46-7.64), 2.29 (1.22-4.32), and 2.01 (1.06-3.80) for the behaviors of eating quickly, eating until full and eating fatty foods, respectively. Moreover, the prevalence of overweight was further increased when these eating behaviors were combined; multivariate odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) of overweight for men with 1, 2 and ≥3 versus no high-risk eating behaviors were 2.66 (1.27-5.56), 4.32 (1.87-9.97) and 7.32 (3.01-17.84), respectively (p<0.0001 for trend). Our findings suggest that eating quickly, eating until full and eating fatty foods are related to overweight in Japanese men.