Alleviation: An International Journal of Nutrition, Gender & Social Development, ISSN 2348-9340
Volume 3, Number 3 (2016) : 1-17
©Arya PG College, Panipat & Business Press India Publication, Delhi
www.aryapgcollege.com, www.apcjournals.com

Impact of Nutrition Education on the Diet and Anthropometric Profile of Bank Managers

Abha Khetarpal
DAV College for Girls, Yamunanagar
(Haryana), India
Email: abhakhetarpal@rediffmail.com

Introduction

For ages, a woman has been a multi-tasker (Cooks food, does the domestic work, raises kids, and cares for everyone) and never complains and asks no remuneration. These days, women are taking up new roles and accepting the challenges of work and career. There are numerous reasons today, women step out of their homes and these reasons may be: to mark her identity to be independent, to earn a living, to run her family or to support her husband to run the family. Working women today constitute 22.7 per cent of total population in India as against 51.5 per cent of the male workers. Globally women are projected to account 47 per cent of the labor force by the year 2005 (Harshala and Premakumar 2000). Women’s health is very important as it reflects the health of family. Diet forms an important component of health status of an individual /family/community. The food and nutrient intake affects the work capacity and output. An individual occupation has a significant effect on the type of foods and nutrients consumed and hence their nutritional status (King et al 1997). Health promotion, learning and social development theories can help to describe how our relationship with food and the knowledge and skills to use it, develops over time.
Due to inappropriate food intake, anthropometric measurements of human body reflect changes in the morphological variation. Women with no regular physical activity may have increased body mass which often promotes obesity. When energy intake is greater than expenditure, a positive energy balance occurs which causes an increase in energy store percentage and body weights.
Increasing demands of work in and outside the home have adverse effect on nutritional status of women (Jain and Singh 2003). Hence the need of nutrition counseling on food intake and anthropometric profile of working women is imperative. Keeping this point in view, the present study was undertaken.

Materials and Methods

sample of seventy bank managers (35-45 years) belonging to middle income group was selected randomly from district Yamunanagar and divided equally into two groups viz. Experimental (E) and Control (C).
A complete record of the food intake of each subject was kept by 24 hour recall method for three consecutive days using standardized containers at T1 and T2 and was compared with ICMR recommendations (1999) of height, weight, Mid Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC). Triceps Skin Fold Thickness (TSFT) were recorded and Body Mass Index (BMI) and Waist Hip Ratio (WHR) were calculated at T1 and T2 in both the groups using standardized techniques as per Jelliffe (1996).
A module (Printed booklet) was developed in English and distributed to the subjects of Group E after pre-testing (T1). It contained information about balanced diet, functions of different nutrients and requirements, nutritional disorders-their control and prevention, cooking practices, use of sprouted and fermented foods etc. Nutritional counseling was also imparted by participatory demonstrations and audiovisual aids by nine individual and three group contacts. The results were statistically analyzed by using student’s t-test and correlation co-efficient (r).

Results and Discussion The demographic information of the subjects revealed that the average per capita income was Rs. 2517±121.5 and Rs. 2243±109.2 in Group E and C respectively. The per capita income of the subjects was higher as per figures of India and Punjab as Rs. 1498.17 and Rs. 2137.67 respectively at current prices (Anonymous 2002) which indicated that the subjects of the present study had higher income.
Regarding the dietary habits, it was observed that 77 per cent and 71 per cent and 23 per cent and 29 per cent of subjects were vegetarian and non-vegetarian in Group E and C respectively. It was surprising to note that 54 per cent and 60 per cent of the subjects in group E and C were in habit of skipping one meal a day i.e. either breakfast or lunch. It was observed that those subjects, who had skipped their one meal, took the next meal much heavier. Majority of the subjects (74% and 86% in E and C group respectively) admitted that they were fond of eating out/buying readymade foods such as samosas, bread pakoras, patties, pizza, noodles, burgers etc.

Food Intake by the Subjects

The data in Table 1 indicated that the mean daily intake of cereals by group E and C was 269.29± 9.0 g and 261.03±6.3 g and 270.3 ±5.01 g and 272.06±5.81 g at T1and T2 respectively and the difference between the groups was non significant. The intake of cereals was marginally less than the suggested intake of 300 g (ICMR 1999) in both the groups. The daily intake of pulses was 29±1.85 g and 36±0.99 g and 29.88±1.19 g and 27.83 ±1.19 g in Group E and C at T1 and T2 respectively , which was inadequate when compared to suggested intake of 60 g (ICMR 1999). The intake of milk and milk products was higher in both the groups, but a significant decrease (p<0.01) was observed at T2 in group E due to decreased consumption of tea and other milk products. Similar findings were also reported by Nagi and Mann (1991). Further, lower intake of GLVs, roots and tubers, other vegetables and fruits were observed at T1 in both the groups. But at T2, their intake had improved in Group E as the subjects were convinced to increase their consumption. The foods of great concern in the present study were fats and oils and sugar and jaggery. The mean daily intake of fats and oils was 31.36±1.21 g and 25.5±0.86 g in Group E and C at T 1 and T2 respectively, which was inadequate when compared to suggested intake of 60 g (ICMR 1999) in both the groups, but a significant decrease (p<0.01) was observed at T2 in Group E due to decreased consumption of tea and other milk products. Similar findings were also reported by Nagi and Mann (1991). Further, lower intake of GLVs, roots and tubers, other vegetables and fruits were observed at T1 in both the groups. The decrease in the intake of fats and oils was observed in Group E, which might be due to decreased consumption of fried foods, fast foods and whole milk in their daily dietaries. The higher intake of sugar and jaggery was due to higher consumption of tea, gajerela, pinnis, panjeeri, peanuts, seasame chikki, sweet dishes etc. But during nutrition counseling, the subjects of Group E were taught to reduce the intake of such high energy foods as it resulted in overweight and further to obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and coronary heart disease.

Anthropometric Profile of the Subjects

The results of various anthropometric measurements of the subjects are summarized in Table 2. The average height of the subjects was 155.7± 0.68 cm and 155.87± 0.78 cm. The height of the subjects recorded in the present study was less as compared to standards (164 cm) given by ICMR (1990). The average weight of the subjects was 64.8±1.23 kg and 62.8±1.19 kg in Group E and C respectively at T1. The corresponding values at T2 were 62.8±1.19 kg and 64.0±1.39 kg. The decrease in weight was 2 kg in Group E which could be due to increase in physical activity, increased involvement in household activities and reduction in total energy intake especially from fats and sugars. On the other hand, there was no reduction of weight in Group C at T2.
The mean BMI values in Group E was 26.89± 0.45 kg/m2 and 25.85±0.42 kg/m2, while in case of Group C, the corresponding figures were 26.30±0.53 kg/m2 and 26.46±0.53 kg/m2 at T1 and T2 respectively (Table 2).

According to BMI classification (WHO 1995), it was observed that majority of the subjects i.e 57.1 per cent and 71.4 per cent were in the category of 25.0- 29.9 kg/m2, 14.3 per cent and 8.6 per cent were in category of 30.0-39.99 kg/m2 in group E and C respectively at T1 (Table 3). After nutrition counseling, the corresponding figures were 62.9 per cent , 5.7 per cent, 31.4 per cent in group E while no change was observed in the BMI of the subjects in group C. Subjects were taught to control their increasing body weight which could be responsible for obesity and many other health problems.
The average Mid Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) of the subjects was less as compared to standards 28.5 cm (Jelliffe 1966) at T1 and T2 of both the groups. The average Triceps Skin Fold Thickness (TSFT) values were 23.89±0.17 mm and 23.03±0.15 mm of group E and 24.24±0.12 mm and 24.53±0.11 mm of group C at T1 and T2 respectively. It was seen that TSFT values were higher in both the groups than suggested value of 16.5 mm as reported by Jelliffe (1996). A decrease in TSFT at T2 was significant in group C. Sharma (1998) also reported a significant (p<0.01) decrease in TSFT values from 29.09±6.02 mm to 27.5± 5.41 mm after imparting nutrition counseling. The Waist Hip Ratio (WHR) values in both the groups were on higher side when compared with the recommended value of <0.80 in females (Ghafoorunisa and Krishnaswamy 1998). There was significant (p<0.01) decrease in WHR in group E at T2 which might be due to reduction in body weight as they were taught to decrease the intake of fats and sugar in their daily diet.

Conclusions

It was seen that inspite of high intake of many food groups and good purchasing power, the diet of the working women was not balanced. Poor nutritional status among working women could be due to poor nutrition, dual stress of household chores and official work. The results of the current investigation showed that there is a need to focus attention on nutrition counseling to facilitate the intake of high fibrous foods like whole cereals, pulses, sprouted pulses, fruits, salads etc., skimmed milk and non inclusion of fried foods and sweets in their daily dietaries to improve their nutritional status. Joint families were preferred by working women due to better upbringing of their children and help in sharing their household chores.
In a patriarchal society like India, a particular boundary exists only for women, and if they try to cross that boundary, then people start maligning them. The general perception is that if some women are doing things differently, beyond people’s limited imagination, like going out for jobs, wearing different types of fashionable clothes, talking freely with male members etc., immediately they are branded as loose women. India probably has still to go a long way to make our workplaces free from any prejudices, abuses and harassments. But we can still try at solving some of the related issues and problems with some possible solutions that have been mentioned above so that women become stronger to handle any adverse situations.

References

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