System dynamics modelling and its implications for childhood obesity prevention: evidence from improving the consumption of portion size and meal frequency

Abidin, NZ; Mamat, M; Izham, THT; Dangerfield, BC; Baten, MA

Abstract

The childhood obesity has rapidly increased, though little is known about the
impact of frequency of meals and portion size on weight and obesity. The
objective of this study is to compare and to determine the effective strategy for
obesity prevention by improving the consumption of portion size and meal
frequency. This study utilised the secondary data obtained from the Health Survey
for England for the child population aged between 2 to 15 years in United Kingdom.
This study combines the different strands of knowledge from nutrition, physical
activity and body metabolism and synthesizing this knowledge into a system
dynamics model which the model offers unique insights into the cause-and-effect
relationships among the influencing factors. Findings from the simulation analysis
demonstrated that reducing meal frequency is the most effective controlling
strategy for obesity prevention. This is asserted by the fact that the highest
reduction in average weight (3.14%-4.5%) and average body mass index
(3.14%-4.5%) between 2020 and 2030 was observed by improving meal
frequency. This paper concludes that system dynamics utilised in this study will
be advantageous to guide the food stakeholder to gain insight into the complex of
eating behavior and to experiment with various intervention strategies for obesity
prevention.

Citation

Abidin, N., Mamat, M., Izham, T., Dangerfield, B., & Baten, M. (2014). System dynamics modelling and its implications for childhood obesity prevention: evidence from improving the consumption of portion size and meal frequency. Applied Mathematical Sciences, 8, 3283-3296. https://doi.org/10.12988/ams.2014.43247

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2014
• Deposit Date: Nov 7, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 7, 2016
• Journal: Applied Mathematical Sciences
• Publisher: Hikari
• Volume: 8
• Pages: 3283-3296
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.12988/ams.2014.43247
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.12988/ams.2014.43247