Nutritional status of middle-aged and elderly males of Medinipur sadar block, Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal, India

The nutritional and demographic transition in recent times has many challenges. The middle-aged and elderly population is one of the most vulnerable sections of the population to malnutrition. The present study was conducted among the middle-aged (45-60 years) and elderly (60+ years) population of Paschim Medinipur (West Bengal) to assess the nutritional status of tribal (Santal) and non-tribal (Hindu caste communities) participants. A total of 200 male participants (100 from each community) were selected for this cross-sectional study using purposive sampling. According to BMI and MUAC classifications, undernutrition is much higher among the tribal participants (42% and 56%) compared to non-tribal participants (23% and 40%), and the dijference is statistically significant according to both BMf (χ²=10.628; p<0.05) and MUAC (χ²=5.128; p<0.05). Contrary to undernutrition, overnutrition is higher among the non-tribal participants (19%) than tribal participants (8%). Central obesity is also higher among the non-tribal population (56%) than the tribal population (25%) according to WC (χ²=19.940; p<0.05) categories. The nutritional status of the study participants is highly associated with factors like ethnicity (χ²=10.628; p<0.05), family size (χ²=13.538; p<0.05), education (χ²=12.873; p<0.05) and income (χ²=6.063; p< 0.05) of participants. The study found that undernutrition is a significant issue among tribal participants. At the same time, overnutrition is a concern among the non-tribal population, resulting in a high level of malnutrition across all groups. These findings underscore the need for targeted interventions to address the specific nutritional needs of these populations.