Food Habit and Nutritional Status of Rural Women in Bangladesh

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Table 1 shows, day laboring is the 2^nd largest participatory occupation among rural women as their education level is still not so high. We found only 8.1% of women are in higher studies. On the other hand, less than 5% women are service holder.

Most of the people are literate but participation in higher education is very low, only 8.1%. Education also determine dietary patterns. Lack of education force women not to go outside for work. As we see around 4 out of 5 women are housewife or homemaker. They have a significant role in dietary preferences as traditionally women are responsible to prepare food for family member.

3.2. Food Habit

Dietary patterns have predominantly changed in composition, with traditional high-carbohydrate diets being replaced by diets of higher in fat.

Compared with those of low socioeconomic status (SES), individuals of high SES tend to follow a diet that is more in line with dietary guidelines for health. For example, lower SES individuals are more likely to consume diets high in fat, low in micronutrient density and to have lower intakes of fruit and vegetables ^[12].

Past research indicates, when people eat alone, levels of food consumption tend to be lower than when people eat in a group setting ^[13]. Table 3 shows that most of the women consume food with their family member.

Table 2 below shows the detail food consumption patterns of the women in the study area. The table prepared by measuring weekly and daily food consumption data. Rice is the staple food for Bangladesh. So most of the people had rice on daily basis. Besides, 42.26% of respondents took local bread at least once a day.

Table 2. Consumption of Difference Food Items as Per Week (%) in the Rural Women

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Biscuit is also popular among the respondent as 88.2% respondents took biscuit daily. Dal and egg (locally made soup curry) are the common curry for the study people. Hotchpotch is another common and popular dish for the respondents. 92% of respondent have at least once in a week.

Rich food is consumed in weakly basis. Some popular food items (Biriany, Tehari) is consumed weekly basis. Besides, Eggs are the most common protein for the study people. Fish and beef 2^nd and 3^rd popular protein. But Fish is cheaper than beef and available. So fish consumption exceeds beef consumption.

People are shifting form rice based diet to wheat based diet slowly. There is more wheat based food than rice based food items we found during our study.

Biriany made with rice mixed with meat, specially beef. Tehari is also similar food but use smaller pieces of meat. Ruti is the local bread made with wheat and fried in dry, oil less condition where Parota use extra oil in making and frying. Nun is another kind of soft bread, also made with wheat. Dal is very popular local soup made with pulses.

3.3. Food Consumption and Shopping Habit

Women are usually more consistent with dietary guidelines than men and they are more likely to report their purchasing, preparation, cooking and consumption of healthier food ^[14]. There are some other studies done on pregnant women from lower SES suffering from dietary deficiency ^{[15, 16]}.

Table 3. Eating Pattern in the Rural Women

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Table 3 shows, when a women used to take her meal. Almost all the respondents usually have their meal with other family members, except 3.2% respondent took it last of all and only 1.5% took it first of all. Especially she who cooks are one who supposed to eat last of all in local culture. Even, if it is necessary to sit more than once for meal, almost in every case the group of women used to sit later. Earlier this cultural practice was dominant and common in practice. But, now people likes to eat together.

Table 4. Food Shopping Status of the Rural Women

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The Table 4 shows the shopper information. It shows, almost all the time husband of the respondents were involved in shopping for their family.

Rice was the main food of the study area. Most of the people Consumed rice twice or thrice a daily. Fruits were popular among the respondents. Most of the respondents BMI was normal.

People who had more income were more likely to have better BMI. Respondents with different BMI condition were not suffering from any diseases and almost all the respondents depended on MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) degree holder doctor for medical advice.

3.4. Rich Food Consumption of Rural Women

Primarily because of poor economic condition rural women are not getting enough protein in their diets. Chicken curry, Roast, Kabab and milk are some of the food items rich in animal protein. Information on these food items are collected as qualitative form.

Table 5. Fruits and Rich Food Items Consumption in the Rural Women

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Table 5 shows the consumption of chicken, roast, kabab, milk, fruits etc. The 79.6% of respondents said, they consume chicken, roast or kabab on weekly basis. 50.3% respondents said they drank milk or food prepared from milk on weekly basis. 34.9% respondent said they had milk monthly basis. 64.4% of respondents consume fruits daily. 24% said they had fruits occasionally. Fruits were popular among the respondents.

Within families, women’s own food intakes may be negatively influenced as they often sacrifice their own food preferences for those of other family members, particularly for their children and men ^{[17, 18]}.

3.5. Body Mass Index (BMI) and Income Relation

Around half of the women in our study were under normal BMI and only 8.59% are from underweight. Only 9 respondents we found obese. 38.54% women are overweight. Overweight is too a problem for the women in the study area.

Table 6. BMI of the Rural Women

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The Table 6 shows that only 8.59% of respondents were in under nutrition category. 89.06% respondents had BMI in between 18 to 28. Most of the respondents BMI was normal. 26% of Bangladeshi people live below the national poverty line of US $2 per day ^[4].

Cost is a strong influence on food purchases and given that persons of low SES often have more limited budgets, healthier foods such as fruit and vegetables may be overlooked in favor of less healthy, more energy-dense options ^[19].

Table 7. Correlation Between Body Mass Index (BMI) and Income of the Rural Women

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The Table 7 above shown that, body mass index (BMI) had statistically significant low positive correlation with income at 0.05 level which mean with more income people were more likely to have better BMI. Though it’s a low correlation but still significant. Many other studies have found similar results.

Table 8. Correlation among Income, Food Items and Number of Major Meal of the Rural Women

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The Table 8 shows the correlation of income and food items. All these food items show positive correlation with more income except rice and hotchpotch. These correlation data show that when income increase people like to have other food than rice and hotchpotch, such as, bread, Parota, fish, biriany etc. Number of major meals also had low positive correlation with income. Similar results found in other studies too ^{[20, 21]}.

3.6. Body Mass Index (BMI) and Diseases

People with low social economic status intake insufficient diet that increase the risk of dietary diseases and overall health inequalities ^[7].

Table 9. Body Mass Index (BMI) Relation Concern Suffering Diseases of the Rural Women

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Table 9 shows that those who were suffering, congenital heart defect was higher in 18 to 23 BMI group. Most of the respondent’s despite of their BMI condition were not suffering from any diseases.

3.7. Education and Health Seeking Behavior

Dietary status is relevant for improving our understanding of the role of nutrition in preventing certain diseases, for identifying causes of public health problems and cost-effective interventions aimed at reducing potential health risks. It is increasingly recognized that choices in relation to food and eating behaviors are not solely individual matters, unconstrained by social and environmental influences. The general social circumstances of peoples’ lives are likely to influence their eating behaviors ^[22].

Table 10. Relation between Eeducation and Health Seeking Behavior of the Rural Women

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