Paper short abstract:

Study on obesity was conducted in North & West Delhi to understand the current prevalence, nature and etiology of childhood and adolescent obesity. Overall frequency of obesity was 4.40% in North Delhi and 12.20% in West Delhi. Children and adolescents of both sexes showed very high frequency of over weights in West Delhi

Paper long abstract:

The present study on obesity was conducted in North and West Delhi in order to understand the current prevalence, nature and etiology of childhood (6+ -9) and adolescent (9+ -15) obesity using BMI as an indicator. BMI for age chart was considered and those greater than 95th percentiles are considered as obese and those greater than 85th percentiles of BMI for age at risk (WHO, 1995). There were two main experimental groups i.e. children (6+ -9yrs.) and adolescent (9+ -15 yrs.) with two sexual groups in each main group. The 200 data of children (Male=100, Female=100) and 300 data of adolescents (Male=150, Female=150) were collected from North Delhi and data of 200 children (Male=100, Female=100) and 300 data of adolescents (Male=150, Female=150) from West Delhi were collected randomly from different Public Schools. The natures of data collected from different schools were as: Somatometry, dietary habits, physical activities and physically passive behaviours.

In North Delhi the overall frequency of obesity was 4.40% whereas, in West Delhi it was 12.20%.The frequency of male and female obese were 4.0% and 4.80%respectively in North Delhi .But West Delhi showed a very high frequency of male and female obesity (15.20% and 16.67% respectively). The male and female children of West Delhi (17.0% and 13.0% respectively) showed a very high frequency as compared to North Delhi (4.0% and 5.0% respectively) In West Delhi the frequency of obesity among male and female adolescents were also very high as compared to North Delhi.

Paper short abstract:

Nutritional habits have undergone huge transformations in recent decades bringing substantial changes in lifestyle. Such changes have created uneasy relationships to nutrition and the body.

Paper long abstract:

Nutrition, at least in the Western world, has been affected by what has been called "alimentary modernity. This phenomenon is understood as the transformation of what we eat - how food products are produced, distributed, prepared and consumed - as a consequence of food industrialization, economy and mass media globalization. This process has generated many changes in lifestyle affecting and stressing people of all ages, although with substantial differences depending on the context in which they operate, socioeconomic grounds, age and gender. University students live in a transitional period where they are gaining some autonomy in many decisions at the same time that several aspects of their lives are adrift. One of such issues is nutrition which generates discomfort related, to a large extent, to the relationship people have with their bodies. This article is based on a study undertook in Santiago of Chile in 2008, through qualitative methodology. It explores university student's perception of their diet focusing on their relationship with food and bodies.

Paper Download (485 KB)

Paper short abstract:

Health of the people is the natural wealth of a nation and therefore, health problems are of national importance. The present paper tries to look at the food culture of the tribe changed over a period of time, impact on their health condition.

Paper long abstract:

All communities especially tribes have their concept of health, as part of their culture. Beliefs, inherent and integral as they are in the cultural matrix, act as invisible forces translating pre-set ideas into overt acts and customs. They live in harmony with nature but live a life of deprivation and poverty. The traditional food security is thus being threatened. Health status of different tribal groups is influenced by their entire way of life like culture, including social and economic condition, nutrition, living condition, housing, education food habits, taboos and superstition, socio-religious beliefs and practices, use of indigenous Medicare system, income, communication and transportation, ecology, demography, social-biological practices, genetic attributes and the health services etc. Rehabilitation of tribes form forest area to nearby place results drastic changes in their food habits. Given the restrictions from forest department to their traditional way of agricultural practice they have all but become dependent on the food grains provided by government through PDS system. The present paper tries to look at the food culture of the tribe changed over a period of time, impact on their health condition. The issues pertaining to way of tribal life, health seeking behaviour, food security act and PDS system are discussed and concluded with some recommendations.

Paper short abstract:

The World Health organization (WHO) defines obesity as ‘global epidemic’. It was estimated that around 400 million people were suffering from obesity in which 84 million were teenagers. The findings revealed that the teenagers were overweight and obese. Teenagers spent average time of 1hr 50 mins on week day and 2 hr 17 mins on weekend on television viewing. Teenagers had spent more time on passive activities rather than on strenuous activities.

Paper long abstract:

Developed nations are not only recognized obesity as a major public health problem; even developing countries consider obesity as an important health problem. Studies from different states of India suggested that the prevalence of obesity ranged from 10 - 50%. The pace of developmental transitions - urbanization, modernization, globalization marked in recent years has led to the double burden of 'under nutrition' and 'obesity' in developing countries. There are various factors that can cause obesity among teenagers and unhealthy lifestyle is on the top in the list. In the present study an attempt was made to investigate the relationship between lifestyle factors such as television viewing, physical activities and obesity among teenagers of Mysore city. The study has consisted 240 teenagers aged 13 - 17 years, studying in high schools and colleges of Mysore city. Anthropometric measurements and information on television viewing behaviors, physical activities carried out daily, and consumption of foods during television viewing were collected. The findings revealed that 81.6% of the teenagers were overweight (37.91%) and obese (43.75%) according to weight for height. Teenagers had spent average time of 1hr 50 mins on week day and 2 hr 17 mins on weekend on television viewing. Teenagers had spent more time on passive activities rather than on strenuous activities. Nearly 3/5th of teenagers (59.6%) have the practice of consuming junk foods and 12.9% of teenagers accustomed to consume carbonated drink while watching television. The results of this study proved that body weight of the teenagers significantly correlates with television viewing time and time spent on physical activities.

Paper short abstract:

Physical activity influences changes in human physique and their measurement has become a key component of disease prevention especially in this globalised era where diminishing habitual exercise and a sedentary style of leisure time activity are important characteristics.

Paper long abstract:

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of physical activity on human physique via somatotype components among 8 to 15 years old Ao Naga girls from Mokokchung town. The Ao Nagas are a major tribe found in the North-Eastern part of Nagaland, mostly in central Mokokchung District. A cross sectional data on 282 girls were collected where each subject was somatotyped employing Heath and Carter anthropometric protocol. A structured schedule was used to access the different physical activity levels. After finding out the descriptive statistics, the comparison of somatotype components within the physical activity level was tested by t-test. The result showed a significant difference in somatotype components due to physical activity level among both pre-pubertal and pubertal girls. Succintly, the occurrence of active girls decreased and the inactive ones increased with the advancement of age, and the active ones had lesser body fat as compared to the inactive ones. This present study showed that the body physique of Ao Naga girls was greatly influenced by different physical activity levels. Therefore in this globalised world with the ever changing life style, with a more sedentary living, it is important to keep in mind the influence of physical activity on human physique for a healthy life style.

Paper short abstract:

Of all the stages of human life,adolescence is considered as the most crucial,next only to foetal stage since numerous physiological, psychological and social changes occur.Nutrition is one of the most indispensable factors that are closely associated with the physical & mental health of adolescents

Paper long abstract:

In India, Life style changes are linked to urbanization, industrialization and westernization which have remarkable influences on health practices, dietary and behavior patterns and so on. The most important factors influencing the life style are the nutrition and environmental factors.

Adolescents are more conscious on their physical appearances. They notably tend to eat poorly but also their diet is likely to consist of fast foods, high fat foods and very limited amounts of fruits and vegetables. In addition to poor food choices, they tend to be sedentary. In addition, eating practices increases risks for a number of immediate health problems such as anemia, under nutrition /obesity, and bone health in adolescent girls. The determinants of adequate nutrition are two factors of life style changes. First is the availability of food in terms of quantity and quality which is depended on the socio economic factors. The second is the individual's physiological status for optimum utilization which may be hampered by infections and metabolic disorders.

Environmental factors such as family, media, peer group, school and community characteristics also contribute to adolescents' health and nutrition. Adolescent is also characterized by undesirable health habits like smoking, alcohol, drugs and behaviors concerning sexual tendencies. These are a public concern because of the immediate and long term sequel on physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health and developments.

Paper short abstract:

The primary objective of this paper is to examine the nutritional variety and its emerging impact on the health of children in the post liberalisation period.

Paper long abstract:

To eat diverse types of food commodities is recommended and internationally accepted as a way to maintain healthy diet.Dietary variety known as nutritional variety brings positive health outcomes.The era of Globalisation has presented great impacts on dietary diversity,either directly or indirectly.One of them is the presence & growing of fast food which alters the (prior common) traditional pattern of food consumption. In nutritional transition phase,population is more prone to adopt fast food as part of their life.The impact is much bigger and more pronounced in case of children.We would specifically study the health hazards of children in the era of Globalization.

Paper short abstract:

The present study evaluates health status of Sikkimese adolescents and adults in context of changing lifestyle in the era of globalization. Various new health challenges are emerging which need uegent attention both from society and health policy planners.

Paper long abstract:

The phenomenon of globalization induced fast infrastructural development, speedy cultural transformation and promotion of tourism in Sikkim brought rapid lifestyle changes in last few decades. Like many other States of the India, non-communicable and chronic diseases are emerging as major health challenges in Sikkim, in present time. Except, multi-objective National Family Health Surveys, study investigating health status of people in Sikkim are scares. The present study evaluates the health status of certain population groups of Sikkim, a small Indian State, in context of lifestyle changes under the influence of growing modernization. The results are based on the health survey conducted among various parts of the state using pretested questionnaires, anthropometric measurements and analysis of the collected blood samples. It is found that the cardiovascular problems are growing across all age groups including adolescents, even those living in rural areas. The major correlates of these problems have been obesity, physical inactivity and socioeconomic status. Other health issues were found to include rising dietary and weight concerns, reproductive morbidities and general infection loads among adolescents. A concerted effort is needed by family, schools, and media along with existing health care institutions to promote lifestyle modifications among people to reduce mounting risk of chronic health problems and related risk factors. Adolescents need special attention from health policy planners, as this age group provide a window of opportunity for lifestyle modifications, however they had never remained the major focus in past.

Paper short abstract:

Indian women are dominated by men since ages. Their health despite of receiving much attention from researchers, policy makers etc have not shown remarkable improvement. The urban areas have better health facilities and access still there is higher prevalence of diseases as compared to rural areas. There is a need to understand the rural-urban differentials in the prevalence of lifestyle disease among women.

Paper long abstract:

The study has used data from third wave of National Family Health Survey (2005-06) to assess differentials in prevalence of selected lifestyle disease among rural and urban women. The non communicable diseases taken for the study are the prevalence of diabetes, asthma and goiter among rural and urban women. The sample is sufficient to carry out multivariate analysis. Analysis reflects that the prevalence of diabetes and goiter is more than double among urban women as compared to rural women; however with regard to asthma, the prevalence is higher for rural women though there is not much difference. This brings into light that though urban women are more prone to lifestyle diseases, rural women are also not left untouched by such lifestyle diseases. The higher prevalence of asthma among rural women points to the socioeconomic and environmental factors such as more use of chullas than cooking gas for cooking food etc. The study has clearly reflected that the prevalence of lifestyle diseases is much higher among urban women still the prevalence is not less for rural women. There is a need to improve the living conditions and lifestyle of women residing in urban as well as rural areas in order to improve the health status and conditions of women.

Paper short abstract:

The Paites are a tribal community who inhabits Churachandpur district of Manipur, India and they follow Christianity. The present objective of this study is to examine the influence of maternal nutritional status on the infant weight for a period of one year.

Paper long abstract:

Despite of being an agriculturalist society, maternal nutritional status among the Paite have undergone certain changes due to globalization, which directly or indirectly have a significant impact on the health and nutritional status of the infants. The present longitudinal study examines the association of maternal nutritional status with infant weight. It was conducted on 219 mothers and their term new born babies in different hospitals and maternity centres in Churachandpur. The maternal anthropometric measurements (weight, height, mid upper arm circumference) and new born weight upto 12 months were recorded. The average birth weight of new born babies in the present study group was 3.1959kg, with male birth weight as 3.2482 kg and female as 3.1390 kg respectively. The study would be basically focusing on the influence of maternal nutritional status on the infant weight from birth to 12 months with the role of globalization into play.

Paper short abstract:

present study has been conducted to assess changes in lung functions and airway reactivity resulting from exposure to textile dust. As the result suggest that exposure to textile dust is responsible for acute and consistent decrease in lung function as well as a slight increase in airway reactivity.

Paper long abstract:

Occupational health in India is undoubtedly an issue that calls for more research by experts and activists. Respiratory problem is one of the major health threats to Textile Workers, till now the studies are mostly clinically based. A lacuna in anthropological perspective is observed. In the present study an attempt has been made to study the anthropo-physiological among textile workers of District Varanasi, Utter Pradesh. The study has been conducted to assess changes in lung functions and airway reactivity resulting from exposure to textile dust.

The subjects comprises of control group (non-workers) and test group (workers) of the same ecological condition (Industrial environment). Effect of dust was seen on anthropological and physiological variables Effect of dust was categorized based on the duration of exposure to dust, concentration of dust, socio economic factors and life styles. The 300 workers of three different sectors (cotton, wool/synthetic, silk) of the textile industry who worked in a textile unit containing 8 subworking sectors. The pattern of disease incidence in different production center of the textile industry is grossly dissimilar. As the result suggest that exposure to textile dust is responsible for acute and consistent decrease in lung function as well as a slight increase in airway reactivity.

Paper Download (421 KB)