Nutritional status of anaemic and non-anaemic young Punjabi women

Abstract

Ninety young women in the age group of 16 to 20 years from the women hostel of Punjab Agricultural university, Ludhiana were selected to assess their nutritional status, The subjects were classified into three groups of 30 each on the basis of their haemoglobin and food habits i.e. anaemic vegetarian (AV), anaemic non-vegetarian (ANV) and non-anaemic group. The average haemoglobin (Hb) levels of the subjects of AV, ANV and NA group were 10.4 ± 0.11, 10.7 ± 0.13 and 12.5 ± 0.10 g/dl respectively. The average packed cell volume (PCV) of the subjects in all the groups was within the normal range while the mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) value was significantly high among the subjects of NA group as compared to other two groups. The mean daily energy and iron intake was inadequate while the intake of protein, calcium, phosphorus and ascorbic acid was sufficient in all the groups as compared to RDI(1). The seasonal differences in the average daily intake of protein, iron and ascorbic acid were significant (P < 0.05) only in the NA group. The ionizable iron accounted for 5.97 to 7.06 per cent of the total iron in the diets consumed by all the subjects in both the seasons. The average weights and heights of the subjects were normal. The mean mid arm circumference values of the subjects were between 80 to 90 Per cent, while the mean triceps skin fold thickness values were more than that of the standards. The clinical symptoms of anaemia and B complex deficiency were observed in the subjects of all the groups but the incidence was higher in AV and ANV groups as compared to NA group.