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Assessment of Nutritional Status of Selected Women Lecturers in Chennai

City

Danya T V* and Kaveri R**

Abstract: Adulthood presents challenges for women. Balancing roles of career and motherhood in

adulthood can be extremely stressful. Better health and nutritional status are considered as an

agent for basic change in the status of women. Good nutritional status is the fundamental basic

requirement for positive health, functional efficiency and productivity. The nutritional

assessment of women lecturers was conducted in a selected college, Queen Mary's College at

Chennai, where 100 women lecturers of various age groups were chosen. The food

consumption of the subjects was assessed using food frequency questionnaire. Recording of the

anthropometric measurements and physical efficiency index using Harvard's step test were also

done. Among the selected women lecturers,57 per cent belonged to the age group of 25-40

years while the other half (43 per cent) belonged to the age group of 40 to 55 years. The results

revealed that the subjects suffered from health problems like short sightedness, backpain,

breathing problem, anemia and joint pain. Dietary practices among the subjects depicted that

the subjects had the habit of skipping breakfast occasionally. There was no significant

difference between age and frequency of consumption of various food groups of the subjects.

There was no significant difference in the anthropometric profile and dietary pattern of the

subjects. There was no significant difference in anthropometric profile and physical endurance

index of subjects having different food habits. Among the subjects, majority of them were

overweight. There was no significant difference in anthropometric profile of lecturers of the

two age groups. All the subjects had excellent physical endurance index. There was better dual

role adjustment characteristic among the subjects.

* M.Sc., Foods and Nutrition Student, Queen Mary's College. Chennai

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** Associate professor. Department of Home Science, Queen Mary's College, Chennai

Introduction:

Women play a vital role in the health of a nation. An adult woman will contribute to a society

in many ways. She is the corner stone around which a family would be built. Women's health and

nutritional status is inextricably bound with social, cultural and economic factors that influence all

aspects of their 1ives (Mondal. 2003).

Women's bodies change dramatically over the course of a lifetime and nutritional needs change as

well. During adulthood, though there is no apparent growth, the breakdown and repair of the body

tissues goes on continuously. Proper nutrition in adulthood ensures good health right until old age.

Various factors like age, sex, activity, body weight, height and composition affect nutrient

requirements. Recent advances point to the far reaching effects of good nutrition on prevention of

degenerative diseases in late adult life.

The goals of nutritional assessment are to identify those who require aggressive nutritional

support to restore and maintain nutritional status, to identify appropriate medical nutrition

therapies and to monitor their efficiency (Kathleen, 1998).

Hence the study on nutritional assessment of selected women lecturers was conducted with the

objectives of learning their dietary practices, anthropometric profile, dual adjustment role, success

scale and physical efficiency.

Materials and Methods:

The present study was conducted in a selected college, Queen Mary's College at Chennai. 100

women lecturers of varying ages were selected by convenience sampling. The study involved ex-

post facto research. Tools used for the study were Questionnaire, Anthropometric measurementslike height, weight, midarm circumference, waist and hip circumference (NIN,2000), Food

Frequency Questionnaire (Shils etal,1994) and Harwards step test for physical

endurance(Barteck,2001). The results of the study are summarised as follows.

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Results and discussion:

The major findings of the study are presented in tables I to 8 and the results are discussed

below. Table I

Prevalence of health problems among the selected women lectures

Health problems percentage(N=100)

short sightedness 30

Long sightedness 11

Diabetes 7

Spondylitis 0

Peptic Ulcer 17

Back Pain 59

Varicose Vain 14

Arthritis 3Breathing Problem 25

Anaemia 25

Joint Pain 41

Indigestion 12

Nervousness 15

Numbness 4

Giddiness 11

Frequent Urination at Night 13

High blood pressure 12

Low Blood Pressure 18

A majority (59 per cent) of the selected women lecturers had back pain and while 25 per cent

of the respondents had breathing problems and anemia. Among the selected women lecturers 30 percent

of them had short sightedness while 11 per cent had long sightedness. None of the subjects had

spondylitis. Seven percent of the subjects had diabetes only three per cent had arthritis and four percent

suffered from numbness. Most of the selected subjects (41 per cent) were found to have joint pain. A

small percent among the selected subjects were found to have peptic ulcer (17 per cent), varicose vein

(14 'per cent), indigestion (12 per cent), nervousness (15 per cent) and giddiness (II per cent). Twelve

per cent of the selected women lecturers had high blood pressure and 18 per cent had low blood

pressure.

Regarding meal pattern, majority (71 percent) of the subjects consumed three meals a day

while eight percent and 21 percent had only two meals and four meals a day respectively. Among the

selected subjects 80 percent of them were non vegetarians while four percent, 11 percent and five

percent were lacto vegetarians, lactoovo vegetarians and vegans respectively.

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Table - 2

Percentage distribution of lecturers as per the habit of skipping meals.

Type of mealSkipping

regularly

Skipping

OccasionallyNever

Break fast 6 59 35

Lunch 5 3 92

Tea 7 20 73

Dinner 5 4 91

Although majority of the subjects did not skip their meals, five to seven per cent

were found to skip their breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner regularly. Among the subjects, 59per cent revealed the habit of skipping their breakfast occasionally.

Table - 3

Comparison of consumption of various foods with the two age groups of selected

lecturers

Food Groups Age N Mean (g) S.D. (g) t value

Cereals 25-4040-55

5743

23.578923.8837

3.19564.3872

0.402NS

Pulses 25-4040-55

5743

28.456129.0698

6.19644.86677

0.536NS

Leafy Vegetables 25-4040-55

5743

27.666729.8940

4.591667.20534

1.815NS

Roots and tubers 25-4040-55

5743

20.175421.8372

4.747646.36183

1.496NS

Other Vegetables 25-40

40-55

57

43

35.3571

34.6074

10.2415

9.29193

0.377NS

Green leafy Vegetables 25-40

40-55

57

43

12.9123

12.7442

3.20870

3.22264

0.259NS

Fruits 25-40

40-55

57

43

42.7895

44.0000

8.08380

7.77358

0.754NS

Fish and meat products 25-40

40-55

57

43

6.6316

7.0465

3.53872

3.61184

0.575NS

Miscellaneous 25-40

40-55

57

43

14.0526

15.4884

3.59782

4.04953

1.880NS

There was no significant difference between the inclusion of various food groups inthe diets and the age groups of the subjects. This shows the fact that age maynot be a factor in adulthood to alter the inclusion of foods in ones diet.

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Table 4

Percentage distribution of the subjects according to the factors affecting food

intake/dietary pattern

Factors Percentage

Increases food intake Decrease food intake

Self cooking 36.0 64.0

Too much of family responsibilities 3.0 97.0

Taking care of old parents 1.0 99.0

Frequent illness of self - 100

Lack of interest in foods 1.0 99.0

Taking care of children 17.0 83.0

Weakness 11.0 89.0

Poor appetite 1.0 99.0Lack of rest 1.0 99.0

Pressure of academic performance 1.0 99.0

Pregnancy 53.0 47.0

Unhappy situation prevailing in thefamily

- 100

Majority of the subjects claimed that self cooking, varying family responsibilities, weakness

and pressure of academic performance decreased their food intake and pregnancy

increased their food intake.

Table -5

Percentage distribution of the selected lecturers according to anthropometric indices

Variables Nutritional Status Percent N=100

Body mass index

18.5-2525-30

>30

GoodOver weight

Obesity

24.069.0

7.0

Waist Hip Ratio:


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A majority of 69 per cent who had BMI ranging between 25 - 30 were found to be

overweight while 24 per cent of the subjects who had BMI ranging between 18.5 - 25, were

considered to be normal. Only seven per cent among the subjects who had values of BMI more than30 were found to be obese.

In relation to the waist-hip ratio 54 per cent had less than 0.85 and 46 per cent had above

0.86. As per W -H ratio 46per cent were found to be obese.

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Table - 6

Dual role adjustment / career success scale scores and the physical

endurance index of the selected lecturers according to age groups

Variables Age inyears

N Meanscore

StandardDeviation

t

Values

Dual role

adjustment

characteristic

score

25-40

40-55

57

43

90.70

91.70

9.763

11.534

0.467NS

Career

Successscore

25-40

40-55

57

43

61.60

61.70

5.227

5.189

0.096NS

Physicalenduran

ce Index

25-4040-55

5743

100.079100.984

5.545.53

0.809NS

Ns-Non Significant

Table 6 revealed that there was no significant difference between age and dual role

adjustments. There was also no significant difference between the age and career success

score and physical endurance. These results ascertain that age does not affect the dual role

adjustment, career success and physical efficiency. The physical efficiency of the selected

lecturers was found to be excellent irrespective of their age.

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Table -7

Summary of ANOV A of the dietary pattern of the subjects according to body massindex, waist-hip ratio, mid upper arm circumference and physical endurance

index

Variable Source of variation Sum of

squares

Df Mean

Square

F Significance

BMI Between groups

Within groups

Total

2.525

369.715

372.240

2

97

99

1.263

3.811

0.33

1

0.719NS

W/H Between groups

Within groups

Total

0.007

0.334

0.340

2

97

99

0.003

0.003

0.97

3

0.382NS

MUAC Between groups

Within groupsTotal

3.431

602.409605.840

2

9799

1.716

6.210

0.27

6

0.759NS

Physicalendurance

index

Between groupsWithin groups

Total

31.4712994.22

6

3025.698

297

99

15.73630.868

0.510

0.602NS

Ns - Non significant

It is distinctly revealed that there was no significant difference in body mass index. waist-hip

ratio, mid arm circumference, and physical endurance index based on dietary pattern. This showed that

though the subjects had different dietary pattern, they might have followed healthy lifestyle to maintain

physical health.

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Table - 8

Summary of ANOVA on the food habits of selected women lecturers according to

anthropometric profile and physical efficiency index

Variables Sources of variation Sum of

squares

Df Mean

square

F Significance

Weight Between groupsWithin groups

Total

29.8544020.38

6

4050.240

3

96

99

9.95141.879

0.238

0.870NS

BMI Between groupsWithin groupsTotal

0.893371.347372.240

39699

0.2983.868 0.077 0.972

NS

W/H Between groupsWithin groups

Total

0.0090.331

0.340

3

96

99

0.0030.003

0.852

0.469NS

MUAC Between groups

Within groupsTotal

13.690

592.150605.840

3

9699

4.563

6.168

0.74

0

0.531NS

Physical

enduranceindex

Between groups

Within groupsTotal

13.679

3012.019

3025.69

8

3

9699

4.560

31.375

0.14

5

0.932NS

Ns - Non significant

From the 'F' values in table 8 it is inferred that there was no significant difference observed in

weight. BMI. waist-hip ratio, mid upper arm circumference and physical endurance index of the

selected subjects having different food habits.

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Conclusion:

Women face threat to their health, safety and well being in different occupations in addition to

that experienced by being a woman. Women workers are more prone to morbidity because their

household traditional job of 'looking after' the family makes them work in "double shifts". It can be

concluded from the results of the study that majority of the selected lecturers were overweight based on

their BMI. The age and body mass index of the selected lecturers did not affect their physical

efficiency. There was good dual role adjustment and career success among the selected lecturers.

Bibliography

Barteck,O. (2001). All Round fitness. English edition oldenberg Nerve Stalling

publications, p:20.

MondaLS.K. (2003). Health Nutrition and Morbidity. New Delhi: Bookwell publications, p:23.

Kathleen. S. (1998). Nutrition for Women. South Western Publishing Company, New York, p.118

National institute of Nutrition. (2000). Dietary guidelines for Indians, Hydrabad,

I C M R. .

Shils, E. Olson, J.A and Shike, M. (1994) Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease. Lea and Febiger,

London. Volume 1. P. 846

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