Assessment of Nutritional Status and habitual dietary intake of Indian Farm Women: Evidence from a Case Study in Central India

Abstract

Abstract Background Nutritional security for women working in agriculture is one of the most serious and persisting concerns in developing countries like India. The present study surveyed the dynamics of nutritional status based on dietary intake viz. calorie, carbohydrate, protein, fat, calcium, folic acid, iron, vitamin, carotene, etc. among the farm women in central India of Madhya Pradesh. Methods A total of 225 farm women (age group of 18 to 60 years) who were engaged in agriculture activities were selected for the study. The nutritional survey was done by a personal interview on food intake by a pre-tested interview schedule and daily dietary intake. The survey questionnaire includes information on family, socio-economic status, income, education, occupation, and food habit of the farm women. In this daily dietary intake, respondents were asked to list all the foods and beverages consumed for a whole day. Results The mean age, height, weight, and BMI of the respondents were 34.93 years, 1519 mm, 49.47 kg, and 21.5, respectively. Based on different grades of nutrition, BMI results indicated that 28% were underweight, 52.4% were normal, 17.8% were overweight and 1.8% were obese. Inequality (estimated by Gini coefficient) analysis showed that there is not much variation among the nutrient intake levels across the physical status of the respondents with the exception of carotene and vitamin C. The classification and regression tree analysis indicated that with the exception of fat, the rest of the nutrients didn’t turn significant in determining the farm women’s physical status in terms of weight. The analysis of the waist-hip ratio showed that the risk of metabolic diseases (such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc.) is higher in 31–40 years’ age group women. Conclusions Overall food frequency indicated that poor intake of micronutrients in their diet according to their work activity results in poor health status. The study affirmed that the actual intake of nutrients varied significantly across the physical status of the farm women, physical activities carried out, and their monthly income level. The study also suggests a slew of policy options to overcome the nutritional gap among farm women.