Nutritional status of the tribal elderly in India

The objective of the paper is to assess the diet and nutritional status of the tribal elderly (> or = 60 years) using data from a cross-sectional study carried out by National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau (NNMB) exclusively in Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) villages of 9 provincial States in India during 1998-1999. A total of 1,239 elderly completed the diet survey (24-hour recall) and 3,932 elderly completed anthropometric measurements. In general, the mean consumption of all the foods and the median intakes of all the nutrients were below the Recommended Dietary Intakes (RDI) in both men and women. The mean heights and weights significantly decreased with increase in age in both males and females (p < 0.001). The prevalence of Chronic Energy Deficiency (CED = BMI < 18.5) was relatively higher (65.4%) in females compared with their male counterparts (61.8%). The prevalence of CED was significantly higher (p < 0.001) among the elderly living in kutchaand landless households. The tribal elderly are subsisting on inadequate diets, which are reflected in the poor intakes of all the nutrients and higher prevalence of undernutrition. Significantly higher proportion of tribal elderly are undernourished compared with their rural counterparts (p < 0.001).