Hábitos alimentarios y su influencia en la composición corporal en adultos que asisten al gimnasio NovaXFit ubicado en la provincia de Santa Elena en el periodo de marzo – abril del año 2025.

Abstract

Obesity and overweight has become one of the main public health challenges of our times. Although food access has improved over the last decade, it has not improved eating patterns, and people are becoming less active and sedentary every year. Given that eating habits and physical activity are modifiable factors that influence lifestyle, the aim of the present work was to determine whether there is a relationship between body composition and eating habits. A sample of 32 people was obtained from a convenience sampling in which participation was free and voluntary. Anthropometric measurements were taken, including height, weight and BMI, and a food frequency questionnaire was applied to Ecuadorian adults. The sample consisted of men (65.62%) and women (34.38%), with a predominant age range between 30-36 years, the average BMI between 24.51 kg/m2 in men and 26.08 kg/m2 in women. In terms of body composition, the male sex presented greater muscle mass (39.87 %) compared to women (25.25 %). There is a positive correlation between protein consumption (eggs, meat, dairy products) and muscle mass percentage (rho=0.8660, p<0.001); however, a negative correlation was observed between fruit and vegetable consumption and fat mass (rho=-0.4535, p=0.0091) and visceral fat (fruits: rho=-0.4852, p=0.0049; vegetables: rho=-0.4547, p=0.0089). Therefore, the results indicate that protein consumption is strongly associated with greater muscle mass, while fruit and vegetable intake is related to less accumulation of body and visceral fat.