<![CDATA[Obesity is a pressing global health issue characterized by excessive body fat accumulation and associated risks of chronic diseases. This study investigates the integration of Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) for feature selection in obesity-level classification using Random Forests. Results demonstrate that feature selection significantly improves classification accuracy, rising from 94.49% to 96.17% when using ten features selected by ACO. Despite limitations, such as challenges in tuning parameters like alpha (α), beta (β), and evaporation rate in ACO techniques, the study provides valuable insights into developing a more efficient obesity classification system. The proposed approach outperforms other algorithms, including KNN (78.98%), CNN (82.00%), Decision Tree (94.00%), and MLP (95.06%), emphasizing the importance of feature selection methods like ACO in enhancing model performance. This research addresses a critical gap in intelligent healthcare systems by providing the first comprehensive study of ACO-based feature selection specifically for obesity classification, contributing significantly to medical informatics and computer science. The findings have immediate practical implications for developing automated diagnostic tools that can assist healthcare professionals in early obesity detection and intervention, potentially reducing healthcare costs through improved diagnostic efficiency and supporting digital health transformation in clinical settings. Furthermore, the study highlights the broader applicability of ACO in various classification tasks, suggesting that similar techniques could be used to address other complex health issues, ultimately improving diagnostic accuracy and patient outcomes.]]>
