Anthropometric indices and percent adequacy of food and nutrient intake of elderly

Present study was conducted to assess the nutritional status of 600 elderly population residing in urban (200), rural (200) and tribal area (200) of Nanded district of Marathwada region of Maharashtra state, India. out of total elderly subjects 279 male and 321 were female. Anthropometric status of selected elderly was determined by recording height (cm.), weight (kg.), hip circumference (cm.), waist circumference (cm.) and body mass index was calculated using values of height and weight. On the basis of BMI, selected subjects were categorised under different grades of undernutrition. Daily food intake of each selected elderly was recorded with the help of two days dietary recall method and weighment method. By using food consumption table of ICMR (Gopalan et al., 2004) the nutrient intake of the elderly was calculated. Food and nutrient intake of the elderly was compared with the balanced diet and ICMR recommended dietary allowances (ICMR 2012) to find out the percent adequacy in consumption. Result revealed that, the height and weight of elderly ranged from 147.01±6.01 to 164.72±17.01 and 42.55±10.00 to 63.69±8.68. Tribal elderly male and female exhibited very low values than urban and rural elderly male and female. More percent of female were belonging to either underweight or overweight. The mean intake of cereals (229.15±77.67 gm.), pulses (29.48±14.33 gm.), green leafy vegetables (18.45±30.36 gm.), roots and tubers (36.91±34.61 gm.), milk and milk products (63.53±61.53 gm.) and sugar and jaggery (16.75±8.09 gm.) was more by elderly male than female. Percent adequacy of all food stuffs was found higher in elderly male than female. Statistically significant difference was noted for almost all nutrients intake between male and female elderly except iron, fat and vitamin c. However, among elderly male and female highest percent adequacy was noted for fat and phosphorus. Other nutrients reported 40 to 63 percent adequacy among male and 34 to 63 percent among female.