Relationships Between Physical Activity, Food Choices, Gender, and BMI in Southern California Teenagers
Authors: Gaylis Jaclyn B. , Levy Susan S. , Kviatkovsky Shiloah , Dehamer Rebecca , Hong Mee Yong 
Published: November 2023

Given the increased prevalence of pediatric obesity and risk of developing chronic disease, there has been great interest in preventing these conditions during childhood by focusing on healthy lifestyle habits, including nutritious eating and physical activity (PA). The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between PA, Body Mass Index (BMI) and food choices in adolescent males and females and evaluate whether PA and/or food choices have a protective effect on BMI. This cross‐sectional study, using survey questionnaire, evaluated 1, 212 Southern California adolescents' self‐reported PA, BMI and food frequency. Results revealed that even though males are more active than females, they have higher BMI percentile values (p < 0.05). Females consumed salad, vegetables and fruit more frequently than males (p < 0.05), where males consumed hamburgers, pizza, red meat, processed meat, eggs, fish, fruit juice, soda and whole milk more frequently than females (p < 0.05). Overweight/obese teens consumed red meat, processed meat and cheese more frequently than healthy weight teens (p < 0.05), yet there was no difference in PA between healthy and overweight/obese teens. These results demonstrate that higher levels of PA may not counteract an unhealthy diet. Even though PA provides numerous metabolic and health benefits, this current study highlights that healthy food choices may have a stronger influence and/or impact on protecting against overweight and obesity. Healthy food choices, along with PA, should be advocated to improve adolescent health by encouraging maintenance of a healthy weight into adulthood.

Demographic Data

Males (n=446)
Females (n=766)

Age(y)†
15.98±1.52
15.69±1.54

Weight (kg)†
70.11±15.87
58.14±11.63

Height (m)†
173.37±10.35
162.21±8.89

BMI (kg/m2)†*
23.22±4.41
22.06±3.99

Healthy (%)
67.5
78.7

Overweight (%)
17.5
14.0

Obese (%)
15.0
7.3

Ethnicity (%)

Caucasian
41.4
43.3

Black
7.2
6.3

Hispanic
32.0
33.0

Asian
10.8
10.2

Other
8.6
7.2

measures expressed as mean±standard deviation

indicates statistical significance between males and females using non‐paired t‐tests (p < .05)

BMI percentile categorization: 5‐84.9% = healthy, 85‐94.9% = overweight, ≥ 95% = obese

PA by Gender and Ethnicity*

Males (%)
Females (%)

PA meeting
52.2
41.4

PA not meeting
47.8
58.6

Ethnicity (%)

Caucasian
Black
Hispanic
Asian
Other

PA meeting
52.5
45.9
40.4
31.7
44.8

PA not meeting
47.5
54.1
59.6
68.3
55.2

indicates statistical significance between males and females, and among ethnical groups using Chi‐squared tests (χ2 test) (p < .05).

PA: physical activity

Dietary Intake by Gender

Daily (%)
Weekly (%)
Monthly (%)
Yearly (%)
P‐value*

Salad

Male
15.9
51.2
17.1
15.9
P < .001

Female
22.6
55.3
14.2
7.9

Vegetables

Male
18.3
53.7
14.7
13.3
P < .001

Female
24.3
58.7
9.6
7.4

Fruit

Male
40.3
49.5
6.4
3.8
P < .05

Female
48.7
44.5
4.1
2.7

Hamburgers

Male
9.8
54.9
29
6.3
P < .001

Female
8.5
34.5
43.5
13.6

Pizza

Male
13.6
59.5
21.8
5.2
P < .05

Female
12.2
50.5
29.7
7.5

Red meat

Male
24.9
57.4
14.0
3.7
P < .001

Female
16.3
50.8
20.1
12.8

Processed meat

Male
16.7
58.1
17.2
7.9
P < .001

Female
11.5
40.7
29.1
18.7

Fish

Male
9.8
36.7
30.4
23.1
P < .05

Female
7.9
30.7
27.0
34.5

Eggs

Male
16.7
62.8
14.7
5.8
P < .05

Female
16.3
53.4
20.1
10.1

Fruit juice

Male
34.6
47.6
9.9
7.9
P < .05

Female
29.3
44.3
13.7
12.6

Regular soda

Male
22.7
42.4
16.6
18.3
P < .001

Female
14
31.4
21.3
33.3

Diet soda

Male
11.6
24.1
13.4
50.9
P < .05

Female
9.5
18.1
13.0
59.5

Whole milk

Male
28.7
25.4
8.3
37.5
P < .001

Female
19.2
22.2
8.6
50.1

indicates statistical significance between males and females using Chi‐squared tests (χ2 test) (p < .05)

Dietary Intake by BMI Category

Daily (%)
Weekly (%)
Monthly (%)
Yearly (%)
P‐value*

Red meat

Healthy
18.9
51.9
19.8
9.4
P < .05

O/O
21.2
57.3
11.9
9.6

Processed meat

Healthy
12.1
46.2
26.5
15.2
P < .05

O/O
17.2
49.7
19.6
13.5

Cheese

Healthy
25.6
55.4
10.4
8.7
P < .05

O/O
34.1
47.2
11.4
7.2

indicates statistical significance between Healthy and O/O (overweight and obese) using Chi‐squared tests (χ2 test) (p < .05)

Dietary Intake by PA

Daily (%)
Weekly (%)
Monthly (%)
Yearly (%)
P‐value*

Fish

PA meeting
11.6
33.7
25.0
29.7
P < .05

PA not meeting
5.3
32.5
31.2
31.0

Salad

PA meeting
23.9
52.1
14.1
9.9
P < .05

PA not meeting
16.4
57.2
16.1
10.3

Vegetable

PA meeting
19.8
57.0
16.0
7.1
P < .05

PA not meeting
13.1
57.5
20.0
9.4

Fruit

PA meeting
52.0
41.6
4.0
2.4
P < .05

PA not meeting
41.2
29.5
5.8
3.5

Fruit juice

PA meeting
35.4
45.7
9.3
9.7
P < .05

PA not meeting
27.6
45.7
15.3
11.4

Eggs

PA meeting
11.6
33.7
25.0
29.7
P < .05

PA not meeting
5.3
32.5
31.2
31.0

Low fat milk

PA meeting
33.0
27.2
6.6
33.2
P < .05

PA not meeting
25.0
30.0
10.1
35.0

Whole fat milk

PA meeting
27.0
22.6
6.0
44.4
P < .05

PA not meeting
19.1
24.5
10.1
46.3

indicates statistical significance between PA meeting and PA not meeting using Chi‐squared tests (χ2 test) (p < .05).

PA: physical activity