Thesis Title:
The Impact of The Social Determinants of Health and Parental Eating Practices on The Dietary Habits of Adolescents from Eastern Mediterranean Origin living with Overweight and Obesity
Thesis Abstract:
In 2017, Public Health England reported that obesity can deny the affected population, on average, nine years of their life expectancy and an estimation of more than thirty thousand deaths every year are thought to be related to obesity.
Children who have obesity are likely to become adults with obesity and suffer from non-communicable diseases at an earlier stage in their life.
The WHO reported that in the year of 2014, more than 50% of adolescents living in many of the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) countries suffer from overweight or obesity, leading to an increase in their risk of developing non-communicable diseases including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular pathologies and certain types of cancers. The NHS has specified a lower BMI threshold for increased risk of acquiring cardiovascular diseases in adults coming from Middle Eastern or Asian origins.
Factors influencing the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents living in the EMR as well as the influence of the social determinants of health in that environment have been explored in many studies. However, there are few studies exploring the nutritional health of adolescents from EMR, living in the UK.
This PhD aims to explore how parental dietary patterns, and the social determinants of health can influence the nutritional habits and food customs of adolescent decedents from the EMR who are well-settled in the UK, to fill the knowledge gap in this area by applying a comprehensive research approach using qualitative and quantitative methods.
Primary Supervisor:
Prof Oyinlola Oyebode