Energy costs of daily activities for women in rural India

Abstract

Objective: In view of the paucity of data on energy costs, the present study aimed to estimate these for typical daily activities performed by women in rural India. Design: A cross-sectional study covering 26 different activities was done by indirect calorimetry using the Oxylog TM instrument (Morgan). Settings: Villages about 30-40 km from Pune city, Maharashtra, India. Subjects: Energy costs were measured on 22 rural Indian women aged 18-45 years. Results: Irrespective of whether an activity was domestic or farming, energy cost was lower when performed in sitting position (cleaning grains 5.24 kJ min 21 , plucking leafy vegetables 5.76 kJ min 21 ) and increased considerably with the extent of muscular movement (carrying two water containers 14.77 kJ min 21 , chopping firewood 14.5 kJ min 21 ), indicating the importance of the postural details of the activity. Physical activity ratio computed using the Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization/United Nations University equation (PAR w ) was lower for all activities compared with that (PAR m ) based on measured basal metabolic rate, indicating the need for a population-specific equation. Furthermore, PAR w identified more activities as belonging to the 'very light' category (nine out of 26 activities), in contrast to the perception of rural women which was supported with empirical evidence. Estimated daily energy expenditure of the women was 7.69 6 0.63 MJ (1837 6 150 kcal) and identified their daily activity pattern as 'moderate' based on PAL w (1.65 6 0.16) while PAL m (2.04 6 0.18) identified it as 'heavy'. Conclusions: Our results highlight the importance of qualitative descriptions of the various activities. The energy costs for several daily activities reported in this study could potentially be used for estimating daily energy expenditure of women from similar rural settings. Keywords Energy costs Daily activity Physical activity ratio Rural Indian womenDiscrepancies between measured intakes and estimates of energy expenditure are commonly reported for marginally malnourished populations in the developing world. Very low levels of energy intake, which appear to be incompatible with the levels of obligatory physical activity associated with rural farming life, are often explained by energy sparing through a decrease in basal metabolic rate (BMR) 1,2 , a decrease in discretional activities 3-5 or a decrease in the energy cost of activities 6 . However, in the real-life situation with marginal but sustained energy stress, the reduction in BMR is believed to be negligible 7 . Although reduction in physical activity appears to be an easy strategy to combat energy stress, it is not always possible in subsistence farming communities 8 . In fact, the change in physical activity that occurs is due only to the seasonality in agricultural tasks 9 . Thus, observed seasonal variation in body weight or body fat 10,11 in such communities reflects a way of coping with their marginal energy stress 12 . With little scope for reduction in activity,...

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