Marginal malnutrition and reduced physical work capacity of migrant adolescent boys in Southern Brazil

Abstract

We measured the effect of marginal malnutrition on physical work capacity of adolescent children of agricultural migrant workers in Southern Brazil. Nutritional status was evaluated using 24-h dietary recall. Body size was evaluated anthropometrically. Biochemical assessments were also made. Physical work capacity (PWC170) was assessed by measuring heart rate, blood lactic acid levels, and oxygen consumption during submaximal bicycle ergometer work. The same tests were also carried out on a comparable group of local well-to-do boys of the same age in the same community who served as controls. The dietary results suggest that adolescent boys of migrant families were marginally malnourished. Their physical growth and development were retarded by at least 1 yr. They had significantly lower reserves of body fat and less muscle mass when compared with controls. Their Hb levels were normal. At the submaximal work loads measured (0, 25, 50, 75 W) the migrant children exhibited similar oxygen consumption and gross exercise efficiency as the control children, but achieved this work at a higher percentage of their maximum work capacity as shown by significantly higher heart rates for the same oxygen consumption. Higher blood lactic acid levels in the migrant children suggest that the available muscle mass was under greater stress to accomplish the same task. PWC170 was reduced one-third in the migrant children (migrant 643 +/- 162 kpm/min, control 905 +/- 345 kpm/min; p less than 0.005). These differences were largely associated with weight (migrant 20.6 +/- 5.9 kpm/min; control 18.8 +/- 4.3 kpm/kg/min; p greater than 0.1). These observations suggest that marginal as well as severe malnutrition affect physical work capacity at levels low enough to affect growth and development.

The Impact of Health on Poverty: Evidence From the South African Integrated Family Survey

“…We wish to thank Murray Leibbrandt and two anonymous referees of this journal for useful comments and the Southern African Labour and Development Research Unit for financial support. Desai et al (1984), Satyanarayana et al (1977), Thomas and Straus (1998), and Dasgupta (1993Dasgupta ( , 1997, and more recently, Thomas and Frankenberg (2002)). Potential channels of influence are: (i) a reduction in the labour supply of sick individuals or of individuals connected to sick individuals; (ii) a decrease in the capacity to work owing to the inadequate supply of energy requirements; (iii) an increase in the required time to complete a task; and (iv) reduced activity levels (Shetty and James, 1994;Ghassemi, 1992).…”

The Etiology, Treatment and Effective Prevention of Iron Deficiency and Iron Deficiency Anemia in Women and Young Children Worldwide: A Review

“…There is vast panoply of symptoms of iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia that are reported. Mild conditions include: poor mental performance and cold intolerance [22], fatigue and exercise intolerance [23][24][25], exercise-related dyspnea [26], glossitis and dysphagia [27,28] restless leg syndrome that is particularly noticeable in pregnancy [29,30], pica [31], reduced resistance to other diseases [32][33][34][35][36] and retardation of infant brain development [37]. More severe conditions include: severe anemia; low birth-weight infants that may be associated with fetal stunting [38], an increased incidence of preterm labour [39], and badly affected women may even die in labour [38,40].…”

Iron Deficiency Anemia: A Public Health Problem of Global Proportions

“…Studies in developing countries in South America (Walker, 1998;Desai et al, 1984), East Africa , and Sri Lanka (Gardner et al, 1977) report a linear relationship between ID and work capacity. Iron supplementation studies carried out on Indonesian rubber tappers (Basta et al, 1979), and Sri Lankan (Gardner et al, www.intechopen.com Iron Deficiency Anemia: A Public Health Problem of Global Proportions 115 1977) and Indonesian tea pickers (Basta et al, 1979) note significant gains in productivity following treatment of those individuals with significant IDA.…”