Impact of Dietary Intervention on Undernourished Farm Women

Abstract

Background Women are vulnerable group for under nutrition, due to various physiological states in the life cycle. Especially in developing countries, despite the fact that women are predominantly the food producers for the nation, majority of them are anaemic, malnourished and have health problems due to insufficient nutrient intake. Hence, a study was undertaken to develop a energy dense food product from regionally available food ingredients and to test its efficacy on farm women in improving nutritional status. Methods A traditional food product ‘laddu’ was developed from combination of millet, cereal, legume, oil seeds, fats and sugars by application of simple processing techniques. The developed product was further subjected for nutritional evaluation and dietary intervention on farm women up to 120 days. Impact was studied on anthropometric measurements and nutrient intake of subjects. Results Findings indicated that, the product contained 516 kcal of energy per 100 gm. The protein, fat, total dietary fiber, iron and calcium content of the product was 9.80 g, 31.60 g, 3.90 g, 2.47 mg and 159.60 mg respectively. Majority of the subjects belonged to lower middle socio-economic group with marginal land holding. Mean body weight of rural farm women increased significantly from 40.67 ± 3.29 to 43.29 ± 4.51 kg and corresponding increase in BMI was also observed from 17.43 ± 0.49 to 18.75 ± 1.26 (kg/ m2). The initial protein, fat and energy intake in experimental group was 31.99 ± 3.01 g, 23.46 ± 4.52 g and 1288 kcal respectively which was increased significantly for all the nutrients after intervention. Conclusion In the present scenario, providing nutrition security through development and popularization of nutri- dense food products from regionally available food ingredients among the vulnerable sections of the society is of vital importance.