Introduction

Obesity is a condition occurring when a person is carrying too much body fat for their height and gender. A person is considered obese if they have a body mass index of 30 or greater. Overweight and obesity are increasing problems that lead to significant health and social difficulties for people (Ofei, 2005). Obesity is directly linked to a number of different illnesses, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, gallstones and gastro-oesophagal reflux diseases and as well as psychological and psychiatric abnormalities (Whitaker, 1998). Overweight and obesity are potent risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes are major contributors to premature death. Fat is the main source of stored energy and it also secretes a number of hormones and cytokines (Papakostas et al., 2005). Obesity is mainly caused by a combination of excessive food intake, lack of physical activity and genetic susceptibility. Awareness in childhood obesity has been one of the main factors that have been seen in kids (Shukri, Vishnupriya, Gayathri, & Mohan, 2016). Obesity can be prevented through a combination of social changes and personal choices. Changes in diet and regular exercising are the main treatments. Diet quality can be improved by reducing the consumption of high-fat food and by increasing the intake of dietary fibres. According to the research done by (Song, 2019) revealed that the adults are facing the problem of obesity due to which they have become more lazy and mostly suffering from liver diseases as well. There is another study done by (Gupta, Rautela, Reddy, & Singh, 2018), which revealed that 82% of the homemakers have gone obese due to heavy food consumption. A study done by (Anteneh, 2015) gave a result that the research was done among the school kids and the BMI was checked and the results revealed that the maximum of them (80-90%) have junk food eating habits. According to another study done in Tamil Nadu among urban women revealed that (Aarthy, 2010), increased obesity can result in depression and weakness.

Physical inactivity considerably contributes to obesity, which increases the risk for various lifestyle diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancers etc. (Gan, 2019; Ponnulakshmi, Shyamaladevi, Vijayalakshmi, & Selvaraj, 2019). Thyroid cancer is the most widespread endocrine malignant cancer (Ma, 2019). Glioma is the prime cause of cancer in adolescent people and it accounts for about 80% of all malignant tumours (Li, 2020). Naturally occurring medicinal plants can inhibit the growth of various cancers (Rengasamy, Venkataraman, Veeraraghavan, & Jainu, 2018). Physical activity increases the antioxidant status, which is potential to reduce the risk of cancer (Ramya, Priya, & Gayathri, 2018). Adiponectin is considered to be one of the key factors for obesity and it is believed to be an important link to the connection between obesity and breast cancer (Mohan, Veeraraghavan, & Jainu, 2015).

Being obese causes many health issues and has many health factors. When the homemakers are made aware of the risk factors of obesity, it will help them to be healthy and even lead a healthy life. The aim of the present study is to create and assess the awareness of the risk factors of obesity among homemakers.

Materials and Methods

The type of population used for the study is homemakers. It is approved by the institutional review board, Saveetha Dental College, and the study population is 156. The sampling method used in the present study is the random sampling method. A questionnaire consisting of 10 questions was prepared and was circulated in an online platform. The questions are close-ended and yes or no type of questions. Google forms were used as a data collection platform. The data was then collected, tabulated, analysed using SPSS software. Pearson Chi-square test was done to evaluate the association of awareness with the age of the respondents.

Results and Discussion

The results of the present survey are as follows

62.8% of the respondents were aware of the risk factors of obesity and 37.2% of the respondents were not aware of the risk factors of obesity (Figure 1). 10.3% opted as laziness, 19.2% opted as overeating, 25.6% opted as genetics and 44.9% opted all as the cause of obesity (Figure 2). For the question, the habit of eating a lot of junk foods, the responses were, 59.4% opted as yes and 40.6% opted as no (Figure 3). 57.1% of the respondents monitor their weight regularly and 42.9% don't monitor (Figure 4). For the question asked on the awareness that obesity mainly causes depression, the responses were, 48.7% were aware and 51.3% are not aware that obesity causes depression (Figure 5). When asked about the time duration of sleeping and the responses were, 47.4% opted for 6-7 hours and 52.6% opted for more than 8 hours (Figure 6). 57.7% of the respondents were aware that obesity causes heart diseases, strokes and digestive problems and 42.3% were not aware (Figure 7). 57.1% of the respondents do physical exercise regularly and 42.9% of the respondents do not do physical exercise daily. (Figure 8). 48.7% of the respondents eat their meals regularly with proper timing and 51.3% of the respondents do not have their meals regularly with proper timing (Figure 9). 17.9% of the respondents opted as 'avoid processed food', 39.1% of the respondents opted as 'doing physical exercises' and 42.9% of the respondents opted as ‘being energetic and eating healthy’ for the ways by which obesity can be reduced (Figure 10).

This study reports a statistically insignificant association of age group with awareness about risk factors of obesity (P-value = 0.059) Figure 11 shows that the difference in the awareness among different age groups is not statistically significant (Chi-square value-3.654, DF=8, p-value-0.059 >0.05). There is a statistically significant association of age group with awareness about causes of obesity (P-value = 0.010) and the age group 30-35 years were more aware about the causes of obesity than the other Figure 12 shows that the participants of 25-30 years (18 participants) are aware about the causes of obesity than the other age groups (Chi square value: 4.123, DF:2, p value: 0.010 <0.05). There is no statistically significant association of age group with awareness about the role of obesity in depression (P-value = 0.084) and majority in the age group of 25-30 years were not aware about the role of obesity in depression Figure 13 shows that the difference in the awareness among different age groups is not statistically significant (Chi-square value-3.665, DF= 10, p-value-0.084 >0.05). This study reports a statistically insignificant association of age group and awareness about the role of obesity in causing heart diseases (P-value = 0.301) Figure 14 shows that The difference in the awareness among different age groups is not statistically significant (Chi-square value- 2.852, DF=8, p-value-0.301 >0.05). There is a statistically significant association of age group and awareness about practices to prevent obesity (P-value = 0.047) and majority of 25-30 years and 30-35 years old individuals were aware that doing regular physical exercise will prevent obesity and majority of 35-40 years of individuals were aware of the fact that being energetic and eating healthy will prevent obesity Figure 15 shows that the participants in the age group of 35-40 years (22 participants) were aware than the other age groups (Chi square value: 5.854, DF:2, p value: 0.047 <0.05). This study reports a statistically insignificant association of age group with the practice of physical exercises regularly (P-value = 0.362) Figure 16 shows that The difference in the awareness among different age groups is not statistically significant (Chi-square value- 4.072, DF=8, p-value-0.362 >0.05).

The use of natural products is used widely nowadays to treat many lifestyle disorders (Menon, Priya, & Gayathri, 2016; Rengasamy, Jebaraj, Veeraraghavan, & Krishna, 2016). The use of traditional and alternative medicine in various diseases is documented in many studies (Wu, 2019). Previous studies have demonstrated that 4-shogaol from ginger may be a novel anticancer agent for the treatment of metastasis in breast cancer (Chen, 2019). Garcinol has also shown strong activity against breast cancer and leukemia (Jainu, Priya, & Mohan, 2018). Bionanotechnology has a pivotal role in the development of a novel therapy in the treatment of cancer (Ke, 2019; Wang, 2019).

When the respondents were asked whether they are aware of the risk factors of obesity, 62.8% of participants said yes. There was a similar study, where the participants were 78.8% were also aware of the risk factors of obesity (Amoah, 2003). When the respondents were asked about the causes of obesity, 44.9% opted for all of the above. There was a similar study done by (Shafique, 2007), where 56.2% of the participants were having knowledge on the causes of obesity. When the respondents were asked whether they monitor their weight daily, 57.1% said yes for the question. A previous study revealed that 42% of the participants were aware of monitoring weight regularly, which is an opposing result compared to our study (Cole, 2000). When respondents were asked about their knowledge on the fact that obesity mainly causes depression, 48.7% said yes for the question. There was an opposing study in which the results showed that 82.3% agree obesity mainly causes depression (Phillips, 2018). When the respondents were asked about their time duration of sleeping, 52.6% said that they sleep for more than 8 hours. There was a similar study in which the participants were 62.2% aware of the sleep duration, which is an important factor of obesity (Han, Leer, Seidell, & Lean, 1995). When the respondents were asked whether they know that obesity causes heart diseases, strokes and digestive problems, 57.7% said yes for the question. There was a similar study done by (Itallie, 1985), where 59.6% of participants are aware of the factors of obesity that causes digestive problems, cardiac arrest etc. When the respondents were asked about the advantages of doing physical exercises regularly, 57.2% said yes for the question. There was a similar study (Hruby & Frank, 2015), where the participants are 57.6% aware about the advantages of doing physical exercises regularly. When the respondents were asked about the ways to prevent obesity, 42.9% said being energetic and eating healthy can prevent obesity. There was a similar study (Keener, 2009), where 72.49% of the participants are having knowledge of ways to prevent obesity.

The limitations of the study were, there is no inclusion of measurement of height and weight and no calculation of BMI, which is a checking factor for obesity. The survey was conducted only among the homemaker's population. And the population size is 156, which is less.

Conclusion

The present survey showed that the awareness on the risks of obesity among homemakers is moderate. Within the limitation of the study, it concludes that the homemakers in the age group 25-30 years were more aware about the causes and risks of obesity. However, the respondents in the age group of 35-40 were more aware on how to reduce obesity. But still, there is a need to create awareness on the risks of obesity among homemakers.

Acknowledgement

The authors thank Saveetha Dental College for extending their full support to complete this study.

Funding Support

The authors declare that they have no funding support for this study.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest for this study.