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, back pain, 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 1

** 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 expost facto research. Tools used for the study were Questionnaire, Anthropometric measurements like 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.

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 3 Breathing 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. 3

Table - 2 Percentage distribution of lecturers as per the habit of skipping meals. Skipping Skipping Never regularly Occasionally 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, 59 per cent revealed the habit of skipping their breakfast occasionally. Type of meal 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 25-40 57 23.5789 3.1956 0.402NS 40-55 43 23.8837 4.3872 Pulses 25-40 57 28.4561 6.1964 0.536NS 40-55 43 29.0698 4.86677 Leafy Vegetables 25-40 57 27.6667 4.59166 1.815NS 40-55 43 29.8940 7.20534 Roots and tubers 25-40 57 20.1754 4.74764 1.496NS 40-55 43 21.8372 6.36183 Other Vegetables 25-40 57 35.3571 10.2415 0.377NS 40-55 43 34.6074 9.29193 Green leafy Vegetables 25-40 57 12.9123 3.20870 0.259NS 40-55 43 12.7442 3.22264 Fruits 25-40 57 42.7895 8.08380 0.754NS 40-55 43 44.0000 7.77358 Fish and meat products 25-40 57 6.6316 3.53872 0.575NS 40-55 43 7.0465 3.61184 Miscellaneous 25-40 57 14.0526 3.59782 1.880NS 40-55 43 15.4884 4.04953 There was no significant difference between the inclusion of various food groups in the diets and the age groups of the subjects. This shows the fact that age may not be a factor in adulthood to alter the inclusion of foods in ones diet.

Table 4
Percentage distribution of the subjects according to the factors affecting food intake/dietary pattern
Factors Self cooking Too much of family responsibilities Taking care of old parents Frequent illness of self Lack of interest in foods Taking care of children Weakness Poor appetite Lack of rest Pressure of academic performance Pregnancy Unhappy situation prevailing in the family Percentage Increases food intake Decrease food intake 36.0 64.0 3.0 97.0 1.0 99.0 100 1.0 99.0 17.0 83.0 11.0 89.0 1.0 99.0 1.0 99.0 1.0 99.0 53.0 47.0 100

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 Body mass index 18.5-25 25-30 >30 Waist Hip Ratio: <0.85 0.86-1.0 Nutritional Status Good Over weight Obesity Good Obesity Percent N=100 24.0 69.0 7.0 54.0 46.0

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 than 30 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 46 per cent were found to be obese.

Table - 6 Dual role adjustment / career success scale scores and the physical endurance index of the selected lecturers according to age groups Variables Dual role adjustment characteristic score Career Success score Physical enduran ce Index 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. Age in years 25-40 40-55 25-40 40-55 25-40 40-55 N 57 43 57 43 57 43 Mean score 90.70 91.70 61.60 61.70 100.079 100.984 Standard Deviation 9.763 11.534 5.227 5.189 5.54 5.53 t Values 0.467NS

0.096NS 0.809NS

Table -7 Summary of ANOV A of the dietary pattern of the subjects according to body mass index, waist-hip ratio, mid upper arm circumference and physical endurance index Variable BMI W/H MUAC Physical endurance index Source of variation Between groups Within groups Total Between groups Within groups Total Between groups Within groups Total Between groups Within groups Total Sum of squares 2.525 369.715 372.240 0.007 0.334 0.340 3.431 602.409 605.840 31.471 2994.22 6 3025.69 8 Df Mean F Square 2 1.263 0.33 97 3.811 1 99 2 0.003 0.97 97 0.003 3 99 2 1.716 0.27 97 6.210 6 99 2 15.736 0.51 97 30.868 0 99 Significance 0.719NS 0.382NS 0.759NS 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.

Table - 8 Summary of ANOVA on the food habits of selected women lecturers according to anthropometric profile and physical efficiency index

Variables Weight

Sources of variation Between groups Within groups Total Between groups Within groups Total Between groups Within groups Total Between groups Within groups Total Between groups Within groups Total

BMI W/H

Sum of squares 29.854 4020.38 6 4050.24 0 0.893 371.347 372.240 0.009 0.331 0.340 13.690 592.150 605.840 13.679 3012.01 9 3025.69 8

Df 3 96 99 3 96 99 3 96 99 3 96 99 3 96 99

Mean square 9.951 41.879

F 0.23 8

Significance 0.870NS

0.298 3.868 0.003 0.003 4.563 6.168 4.560 31.375

0.07 7 0.85 2 0.74 0 0.14 5

0.972NS 0.469NS

MUAC Physical endurance index

0.531NS 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.

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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