Assessment of nutritional status and habitual dietary intake of Indian farm women: Evidence from a case study in central India.

OBJECTIVES

Nutritional security for women working in agriculture is one of the most serious and persisting concerns in developing countries like India. The present study surveyed the dynamics of nutritional status based on dietary intake, namely calorie, carbohydrate, protein, fat, calcium, folic acid, iron, vitamin, carotene, etc., in the farm women in the central India state of Madhya Pradesh.

METHODS

A total of 225 farm women (ages 18 to 60 y) who were engaged in agricultural activities were selected for this study. The nutritional survey was done by personal interview on food intake with a pretested interview schedule and daily dietary intake. The survey questionnaire includes information on family, socioeconomic status, income, education, occupation, and food habits of the farm women. As "daily dietary intake", respondents were asked to list all foods and beverages consumed for a whole day.

RESULTS

The mean age, height, weight, and body mass index of the respondents were 34.93 y, 1519 mm, 49.47 kg, and 21.5 kg/m, respectively. Based on different grades of nutrition, body mass index results indicated that 28% were underweight, 52.4% were normal, 17.8% were overweight, and 1.8% were obese. Inequality (estimated by Gini coefficient) analysis found that there is not much variation in the nutrient intake levels across the physical status of the respondents, with the exception of carotene and vitamin C. The classification and regression tree analysis indicated that with the exception of fat, the rest of the nutrients were not significant in determining the farm women's physical status in terms of weight. In the analysis of the waist-to-hip ratio, the risk of metabolic diseases (cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc.) was higher in the 31- to 40-y age group.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall food frequency indicated that poor intake of micronutrients in their diet according to their work activity results in poor health status. The study affirmed that the actual intake of nutrients varied significantly across the physical status of the farm women, their physical activities carried out, and their monthly income level. The study also suggests various policy options to overcome the nutritional gap in farm women.