Asian Journal of Development Matters

Rural India has 49 percent of girls in the age group of 10 to 19 years. Gender discrimination, poverty, poor food intakes, traditional customs and illiteracy affects the normal growth and development, nutritional status and health of the girls. It results in adverse consequences in girl's- life during motherhood and future of her child. To assess clinical nutritional and micronutrient status profiles, a sample of 362 girls from six rural communities (n=120) including scheduled castes (harizan n=90) and tribes (n=152) were examined. Heights, weights, food intakes and serum micronutrient status were assessed using standard anthropometric, diet survey and biochemical methods. Findings indicate that all the girls studied are far below the ICMR and NCHS standards for heights and weights. Rural girls are better than tribal and harizan girls. Harizan girls are worst affected. Food intakes of the girls in all the three communities are far below the ICMR Recommendations. The schedule caste and Tribal girls showed significantly deficit intakes for calories, protein, iron and calcium than their rural counterparts. Serum micronutrient profile reveals very low values in comparison to expected normal values for serum iron, zinc, calcium and vitamin A. Significantly low values are recorded for serum protein and albumin. The findings suggest that there is an urgent need for nutrition intervention and education programmes for rural and other socially deprived adolescent girls to support the growth and safeguard the mother-child life cycle.