Application of machine learning techniques for obesity prediction: a comparative study

Obesity, characterized by excess adipose tissue, is becoming a major public health problem. This condition, caused primarily by unbalanced energy intake (overconsumption) and exacerbated by modern lifestyles such as physical inactivity and suboptimal dietary habits, is the harbinger of a variety of health disorders such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers. Therefore, there is an urgent need to accurately diagnose and assess the extent of obesity in order to formulate and apply appropriate preventive measures and therapeutic interventions. However, the heterogeneous results of existing diagnostic techniques have triggered a fierce debate on the optimal approach to identifying and assessing obesity, thus complicating the search for a standard diagnostic and treatment method. This research primarily aims to use machine learning techniques to build a robust predictive model for identifying overweight or obese individuals. The proposed model, derived from a person's physical characteristics and dietary habits, was evaluated using a number of machine learning algorithms, including Multilayer Perceptron (MLP), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Fuzzy K-Nearest Neighbors (FuzzyNN), Fuzzy Unordered Rule Induction Algorithm (FURIA), Rough Sets (RS), Random Tree (RT), Random Forest (RF), Naive Bayes (NB), Logistic Regression (LR), and Decision Table (DT). Subsequently, the developed models were evaluated using a number of evaluation measures such as correlation coefficient, accuracy, kappa statistic, mean absolute error, and mean square error. The hyperparameters of the model were properly calibrated to improve accuracy. The study revealed that the random forest model (RF) had the highest accuracy of 95.78 %, closely followed by the logistic regression model (LR) with 95.22 %. Other algorithms also produced satisfactory accuracy results but could not compete with the RF and LR models. This study suggests that the pragmatic application of the model could help physicians identify overweight or obese individuals and thus accelerate the early detection, prevention, and treatment of obesity-related diseases.