Food Insecurity and Dietary Intake among Rural Indian Women: An Exploratory Study

Alice Sims, Paige van der Pligt, Preethi John, Jyotsna Kaushal, Gaganjot Kaur and Fiona H McKay
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Alice Sims: The School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia
Paige van der Pligt: Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN), School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia
Preethi John: Chitkara School of Health Sciences, Chitkara University, Punjab 144417, India
Jyotsna Kaushal: Centre of Water Sciences, Chitkara University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Chitkara University, Punjab 144417, India
Gaganjot Kaur: Chitkara Business School, Chitkara University, Punjab 144417, India
Fiona H McKay: The School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 9, 1-11

Abstract: Food insecurity is an important contributor to health and a factor in both underweight and malnutrition, and overweight and obesity. Countries where both undernutrition and overweight and obesity coexist are said to be experiencing a double burden of malnutrition. India is one example of a country experiencing this double burden. Women have been found to experience the negative impacts of food insecurity and obesity, however, the reasons that women experience the impact of malnutrition more so than men are complex and are under-researched. This current research employed a mixed methods approach to begin to fill this gap by exploring the dietary intake, anthropometric characteristics, and food security status of rural Indian women. In total, 78 household were surveyed. The average waist measurement, waist to hip ratio, and BMI were all above WHO recommendations, with two thirds of participants categorized as obese. Contributing to these findings was a very limited diet, high in energy, and low in protein and iron. The findings of this research suggest that the rural Indian women in this study have a lack of diet diversity and may be at risk of a range of non-communicable diseases.

Keywords: food security; India; women; rural (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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