Cultural Practices and Nutritional Status Among Premenopausal Women of Urban Setup in India

ABSTRACT

A data of 124 adult women who had not attained menopause, age ranging from 21-50 years was collected to see the impact of nutritional status as assessed by Body mass index which were categorized according to World Health Organization and cultural practices. Majority of adult urban women were in overweight category followed by normal category and obese category and very few remained in the underweight category. With the increase in number of children, there was a shift in BMI category from normal to obese with substantial prevalence of women noticed in overweight category. Maximum numbers of women were found in overweight category with two children. Normal weight category is also well represented with number of pregnancies. No woman with three children was reported in underweight category. It is evident that there is shift towards obese category with the number of children, confirming to the cultural practice of giving rich diets to mothers during and after delivery.

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