Nutritional Status and Lifestyle Variations of Adult Bhil and Mahadeo Koli

The present study aims to understand the nutritional status of two tribes of Maharashtra viz. Bhil and Mahadeo Koli. The objectives are to understand nutritional status of each tribe through BMI-to compare the nutritional status of two groups, to study the differences between their traditional dietary patterns and to understand the catchment analysis, infrastructural facilities and cooking practices. The study is conducted on the adult Bhil population (n=290) and Mahadeo Koli population (n=274) of the age group < 20–50 > selected with a simple random sampling method. Both the communities live on the hilly region; one on Satpura and other on Sahyadri mountain ranges respectively in a remote area, surrounded by forests, but found difference in flora, fauna and infra-structure facilities. The study shows that education, occupation, better inter-community relations along with transportation, grinding practices and gadgets at home are influential factors for nutritional status. When two groups were compared as per their grades, Bhils are found malnourished than Mahadeo Kolis for I, II and III grades. In females, 1^st and 2^nd gradeof obesity is found more among Mahadeo Koli; whereas in males 2^nd grade obesity is found in both the groups. The Mahadeo Koli tribe has traditional simple diet pattern with rice as their staple food, whereas, Bhils eat more varieties like rice, ragi and warai. Mahadeo Koli is found to be progressive with respect to the infrastructure and inter-community relations.