Abstract
Male greenhouse farmers engaged in strawberry growing in a town near Kumamoto city were studied during the harvest and post-harvest seasons from 1985 to 1988. Dividing the subjects into two age-groups of 10 elderly (over 56) and 15 middle-aged (less than 55) individuals, relationships among age, physical characteristics, work load and food consumption were examined to clarify possible overloads on the elderly. Compared with the middle-aged group, the elderly group showed low values of body weight, percentage body fat and Body Mass Index (BMI). Householdor per capita cultivation area was also lower in the elderly group than in the middle-aged group. However, daily energy expenditure estimated by 24-h heart-rate monitoring did not differ in the harvest-season, being about 2, 700 kcal per day in the two groups. In the elderly, daily energy intake was lower than energy expenditure in the harvest season. Intakes of calcium, and vitamins B1 and B2 did not meet the daily requirements, although intake was balanced with requirement for iron, and vitamins A and C. The food consumption pattern in the middle-aged group was similar to that in the elderly group, with higher values for all nutrients. Accordingly, the rate of intake relative to requirement was inversely correlated with age for most of the nutrients. It is suggested that food consumption in the busy harvest season is independent of work load and controlled by socioeconomic factors such as the number of household members and work schedule.
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