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The aim of this study was to investigate the factors influencing Body Fat Percentage (BFP) among Vietnamese adolescents aged 11 to 15 employing machine learning techniques for predictive analysis. A total of 1,208 adolescents, comprising 598 boys and 610 girls, drawn from nine junior high schools in Vietnam's capital, were enrolled in the study. Body composition measurements were conducted using the HBF 375 (Omron) device by Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis method. The study questionnaire, initially validated by The National Institute of Nutrition, encompassed inquiries related to dietary behaviors, meal frequencies, physical activities, sedentary habits, and nutritional knowledge. A machine learning methodology employing a decision tree algorithm was employed to discern the primary determinants most significantly correlated with BFP. This study successfully identified six distinct predictor groups associated with BFP among adolescents, leveraging the decision tree model, with Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) and Mean Absolute Error (MAE) values of 4.80 and 3.80, respectively. Among these predictors, frequency of fruit consumption, snacking habits, mode of transportation to school, and screen time (computer and/or cell phone usage) emerged as the most influential factors linked to BFP in adolescents. The combination of these factors and interactions with gender and pubertal status can BFP in Vietnamese adolescents. This research sheds light on the complex and diverse factors impacting BFP in Vietnamese adolescents. This study's results underscore the practical importance of promoting healthy eating and exercise habits among adolescents, offering valuable insights for parents and schools to enhance their childcare strategies.

Objective: Obesity is a complex disease that involves interactions between environmental and genetic factors in its pathogenesis. The aims of this present study were to analyse the overall effects of some nutritional, physical and genetic factors with childhood obesity, and to build predictive models of childhood obesity. Material and Methods: A case-control study was conducted on 559 Hanoi primary school children (278 obese cases and 281 normal controls). Genetic analysis was performed to evaluate genotype on the rs6265 gene BDNF, rs6548238 gene TMEM18, rs6499640 gene FTO, and rs17782313 gene MC4R. Univariate and multivariate regression analysis were conducted to compare the two groups of children, so as to draw conclusions regarding influencing factors and to establish predictive models of obesity for Hanoi primary school children. Results: Factors increasing the risk of obesity found included: urban living areas (odds ratio (OR)=1.5), caesarean section (OR=2.1), high birth weight (OR=1.9-3.1), parental overweight and obesity (OR=2.1-5.1), short night sleeping times (OR=2.6), characteristics of child feeding; including early weaning (OR=2.1), gluttony (OR=19.1), no snacking (OR=2.4), controlled eating (OR=2.4) fat food hobbies (OR=2.7), and CC rs6548238-TMEM18 genotype (OR=1.8). A predictive model of childhood obesity for Hanoi primary school children was built, based on the BMI of parents, gluttonous characteristics, unrestricted eating with ROC=0.871. Conclusion: Childhood obesity develops as a result of interaction between eating habits, lifestyle characteristics of the child and genetic characteristics inherited from over nutritious parents. Encouraging parents to manage both their own weight and their children’s eating habits such as allowing children to consume food without undue restriction and reducing gluttony can serve as effective interventions to diminish the prevalence of childhood obesity within the community.

This cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the nutritional status of 24–60-month-old children in Hanoi, Vietnam, and explore parents’ perception of their child's body shape, as well as related factors. The study found that parents’ wishes had a significant impact on their children’s nutritional status, as reflected in the high percentage of parents dissatisfied with their child’s weight and shape. Malnutrition, overweight, and obesity were defined based on WHO 2006 standards, and children's anthropometric indices were measured. A self-reported questionnaire was used to collect information on parents’ perception of their child’s health based on body shape and their satisfaction with it. The results showed highest dissatisfaction with the child's shape in malnourished children (86.8 %), then in the obese group (60.4 %), and lowest in overweight children (28 %). Correct parental perception about the child’s nutritional status and the healthiest shape was only 61.1 % and 34.5 %, respectively. Several related factors to parental correct perception about the child’s shape was found and it was higher 22.5 % with the parent living in suburban area than those living in urban area, 20 % with the parent of girls than those of boys, it decreased to 54 % in group of malnourished children, and 66 % in group of obese and overweight children. The findings of this study highlight the importance of parental education on healthy child development and the need for interventions to address the high prevalence of malnutrition, overweight, and obesity in preschool children.

Health is the necessary foundation for the comprehensive development of children. Unhealthy nutritional status of children in all its forms is a global problem. Our research goal was to assess prevailing nutritional status and changes in it among pre-school children in the north of Vietnam. There were several stages in the examination, each performed once a quarter, from September 2017 to March 2018. The results showed that children's height and weight grew. At the initial stage of the examination average age of children was equal to 42 months, average weight and height were 14 kg and 95 cm respectively. At stage 2, average height and weight were equal to 14.2 kg and 97 cm, and at stage 3 they were 15 kg and 99 cm, respectively. All the applied models revealed the correlation between anthropometric indices of children aged 10–60 months and their age (p < 0.05), however, only the model y = 0.2736x + 2.8943 with R2 = 0.8571 revealed a tight correlation between body mass index and age. We applied the WHO standards (2006) to assess the nutritional status of children. After 6 months of the examination we detected an increase in number of children with good nutritional status and a decrease in number of those with bad one that was the most tightly connected with malnutrition. At stage 3 we revealed 15.7% children with stunting, 4.3% children with underweight, and 3.3% with both disorders, among those who received insufficient nutrition. 1.5% children suffered from hypotrophy; and 0.1% children had underweight, stunting, and hypotrophy. Prevalence of overweight and obesity didn't decrease as at stage 1 over-weight was detected in 4.5% cases, and obesity, in 1.2% cases; and at stage 3, they were detected in 5.5% and 1.1% cases respectively. Apart from that, in some cases malnutrition and disorders related to overweight occurred simultaneously: stunting and overweight in 0.6% cases, stunting and obesity, in 0.1% cases.