Analyzing awareness of obesity among students in the school of Agriculture & Consumer Sciences at Tennessee State University

Obesity is excessive accumulation of body fat, which can lead to an adverse effect on health, resulting in reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems. It is a major public health problem found in men, women, and children of all ages, races, ethnic background, and socioeconomic groups in the United States and around the world. The objectives of this study are as follows: *To assess awareness levels about obesity and related issues among students in the school of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences at Tennessee State University, *To characterize the prevalence of obesity and knowledge about it among the students, *To discuss suggestions by the students involved in this study. This study can contributes to a better understanding of factors related to students\u27 awareness about obesity and their suggestions to tackle the problem. In order to accomplish the objectives of this study data were collected from primary and secondary sources. Face- to-Face surveys of graduate and undergraduate students at Tennessee State University in the School of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences were conducted in spring 2011 A total of one hundred forty one completed responses were received. The data were checked for completeness coded and entered into the computer. Spss-Pc was used to conduct descriptive and statistical analysis of the data. Results show that there are various factors affecting awareness about obesity and strategies to tackle it