Anthropometric characteristics and evaluation of nutritional status amongst female brick field workers of the unorganized sectors of West Bengal, India

Publication date: Available online 10 March 2016 Source:HOMO - Journal of Comparative Human Biology Author(s): M. Sett, S. Sahu The purpose of the study is to evaluate the body composition and hand grip strength as indirect measures of nutritional status of 162 female workers and the status of the serum oxidative stress enzymes of 35 female workers engaged in the manual brick making units of the unorganized sectors of West Bengal, India. Results show that the waist-hip ratio values (mean 0.79 vs. 0.83; p =0.0034) are significantly greater amongst the brick carriers than the moulders. The body density (mean 1067.0 vs. 1056.0kg/m3; p<0.0001) is lower and the body fat % (mean 10.63% vs. 13.09%; p<0.0001) of the brick carriers is significantly higher. The hand grip strength (HGS) (horizontal) of the brick workers in right (mean 379.52 vs. 267.72N; p<0.0001) and left (mean 268.78 vs. 162.79N; p<0.0001) hands are significantly greater than the control group. The serum malondialdehyde level is significantly higher (mean 99.97 vs. 160.21 nmol/mg of protein; p<0.0001) but the superoxide dismutase level (mean 6.71 vs. 3.34 unit/mg of protein; p<0.0001), glutathione level (GSH) (mean 3.93 vs. 2.11μg/mg of protein; p<0.0001) and glutathione-s-transferase (GST) activity (mean 5.4 vs. 2.73 nmole/min/mg of protein; p<0.0001) are significantly lower than that of the control group. The indirect nutritional assessments have shown...
Source: HOMO Journal of Comparative Human Biology - Category: Biology Source Type: research