{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T06:01:20Z","timestamp":1790834480088,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790812800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Overweight and obesity are rising among Saudi university students. Guided by Popkin\u2019s nutrition transition theory, this study examined regional variation in overweight\/obesity, sedentary behavior, and nutrition-transition dietary patterns.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      This cross-sectional study (March\u2013May 2023) recruited 564 students from four Saudi administrative regions using a multistage sampling approach. Three colleges per university were selected across three academic domains; within each college, one male and one female class per academic level were invited; all eligible students completed the questionnaire. Students with prior type 2 diabetes were excluded. BMI was calculated from self-reported weight and height (overweight\/obesity: \u2265 25.0\u202fkg\/m\n                      <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                      ). Dietary patterns were identified using principal-component analysis of 17 food groups from a validated 66-item food frequency questionnaire. Physical activity was assessed via IPAQ-SF (sufficient: \u2265 150\u202fmin\/week); composite sedentary behavior exposure was classified as low (&amp;lt; 8\u202fh\/day), moderate (8\u201312\u202fh\/day), or high (&amp;gt; 12\u202fh\/day). Logistic regression adjusted for sex, age, income, college type, region, and smoking.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Overweight\/obesity prevalence was 17.9% (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f100\/558); as BMI relied on self-reported anthropometrics, this is a conservative lower bound. A marked regional gradient was observed: 27.8% of Riyadh students were overweight\/obese versus 8.8% in Makkah (\n                      <jats:italic>\u03c7<\/jats:italic>\n                      <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                      \u202f=\u202f25.48,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001). Region showed the strongest association with overweight\/obesity after adjustment: Riyadh (aOR\u202f=\u202f4.62, 95% CI 2.23\u20139.59,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      &amp;lt;\u202f0.001) and male sex (aOR\u202f=\u202f1.96, 95% CI 1.04\u20133.71,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.037) were the only significant predictors. Composite sedentary behavior exposure was high: 82.3% were moderately or highly sedentary (\u2265 8\u202fh\/day), dominated by mobile phone use (3.75\u202fh\/day) and academic study (3.35\u202fh\/day). Sedentary behavior was higher in overweight\/obese students (15.5 vs. 13.9\u202fh\/day;\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.043). Nutrition-transition dietary patterns were not associated with overweight\/obesity (aOR\u202f=\u202f0.93,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.543).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Region showed the strongest association with overweight\/obesity, with Riyadh students at\n                      <jats:italic>four-fold<\/jats:italic>\n                      higher risk than Makkah students, suggesting that regional structural and environmental factors may contribute to obesity risk in this population. Prolonged mobile phone use and screen-based sedentarism were prevalent and associated with overweight\/obesity. Campus interventions targeting sedentary screen behavior and regional food environments, particularly in Riyadh, are warranted; future studies should employ direct anthropometry to obtain unbiased prevalence estimates.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1980253","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T05:41:21Z","timestamp":1790833281000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Regional differences in obesity risk, sedentary behavior, and dietary patterns among university students in Saudi Arabia: a multi-region cross-sectional study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Mohummed H.","family":"Alkhraiji","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Exercise Physiology, College of Sport Sciences and Physical Activity, King Saud University","place":["Riyadh, Saudi Arabia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Abdulrahman I.","family":"Alaqil","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Education, Department of Physical Education, King Faisal University","place":["Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","volume-title":"WHO | Obesity: Preventing and Managing the Global Epidemic","year":"2021"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1753-4887.2011.00456.x","article-title":"Global nutrition transition and the pandemic of obesity in developing countries","volume":"70","author":"Popkin","year":"2012","journal-title":"Nutr Rev"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2092","DOI":"10.3390\/healthcare12202092","article-title":"Mapping obesity trends in Saudi Arabia: a four-year description 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