Effects of Fast Food Consumption and Lifestyle on Body Weight Among Medical Students at Al-Qadisiyah University

Abstract

Overweight and obesity among university students are rising, and medical students are of particular concern because their dietary and lifestyle habits may later influence how they counsel patients, yet data from Iraq remain limited; this study aimed to describe body weight status among medical students at the University of Al-Qadisiyah and its relationship with fast-food intake, diet and lifestyle. A cross-sectional study was conducted from January to July 2026 among 360 students from all six academic years, selected by convenience sampling; a structured Arabic questionnaire captured sociodemographic, dietary and lifestyle data, while weight, height and waist circumference (WC) were measured and classified using WHO criteria, with associations tested by chi-square or Fisher's exact test at p<0.05. Most students had normal BMI (63.1%), while 25.8% were overweight, 10.3% underweight and 0.8% obese; high-risk WC was more common in women (51.1%) than men (20.9%) and was associated with BMI in both sexes (p<0.001). BMI category was significantly associated with age, sex, academic year, income sufficiency and marital status (all p<0.001), and with most dietary and lifestyle factors, although several dietary associations were reversed, with overweight more frequent among students reporting never consuming fast food, fried food or soft drinks. Physical inactivity, screen time, short sleep and smoking were also linked to higher BMI. Overweight affected one in four medical students, and central obesity was common among women; the reversed dietary associations likely reflect reverse causation and under-reporting rather than a protective effect, underscoring the need for prospective studies and university-based health-promotion programmes.