Eat according to the type of work you do, nutritionists point out

One should pep up his or her dietary habits in relation to the type of work one is involved in


By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad:  Dietary intake should correspond to the type of
occupation people take up, if they want to keep themselves fit and
healthy.
A study carried out by the city-based National Institute of Nutrition on
women involved in various types of occupation indicated that
undernutrition might affect the relationship between occupational
activities and bone parameters. This in other words means one should pep
up his or her dietary habits in relation to the type of work one is
involved in.
Senior nutrition scientists Veena Shatrugna, B Kulkarni B and others of
NIN investigated the relationship between occupational activities and the
bone parameters. As many as 158 women were investigated as part of the
study. The women hailed from low-income groups and are involved in three
occupations with different bone-loading patterns i.e. beedi-makers,
sweepers and construction workers.
The investigations revealed that anthropometric parameters, parity and
percentage of menopausal women did not differ significantly between the
three groups and dietary intake of calcium was low in all the groups. The
nutritionists found that the bone mineral density values of these groups
were much lower than those reported from developed countries. They
inferred that it is possibly due to different body sizes in these
regions.
“Femoral neck and hip BMD were not different in the three groups
in spite of marked differences in activity patterns. However, bone area in
the femoral neck was higher in the beedi-makers compared with that of
sweepers. This is probably due to the squatting position adopted by beedi
makers,” the study pointed out.
Lumbar spine bone density was significantly lower among the sweepers when
compared with that of the beedi-makers and the groups performing walking
and weight-bearing activities (i.e. sweepers and construction workers) had
a higher prevalence of osteoporosis in the lumbar spine. However,
weight-bearing effects of the upper body due to a squatting position were
associated with better lumbar spine bone mass density in the beedi-makers.