Prevalence of malnutrition among women and adolescent girls: impact of urbanization in rural–urban interface of Bangalore

Abstract

PurposeIndia is facing a double burden of malnutrition, i.e. undernutrition and obesity. Women and adolescent health and nutrition are very relevant issues which have not received much attention it deserves in India, especially in the context of a girl child. Hence, the purpose of this study is to assess malnutrition among women and adolescent girls as well as the associated factors.Design/methodology/approachAn attempt was made to assess malnutrition among women and adolescent girls and associated factors. The required data was collected from the north (616) and south transects (659) sample households of Bangalore constituting a total sample size of 1,275. The data was analyzed by adopting multiple linear regression and multinomial logistic regression analysis using STATA software.FindingsThe effects of this study simply confirmed that, urbanization had an instantaneous effect on dietary repute of women and adolescent girls, while transferring throughout the gradient from rural to urban with the growing significance of weight problems and obese. In adolescent girls, about 31% were underweight followed by normal weight and overweight across rural–urban interface of Bangalore. The factors such as education, consumption of meat and animal products, a dummy for urban, diabetes and blood pressure were significantly and positively influencing the nutritional status (Body Mass Index) of women across rural–urban interface. While consumption of vegetables, wealth index and per capita income had a positive and significant influence on the nutritional status of adolescent girls.Originality/valueWith limited studies and data available in Karnataka, especially in Bengaluru, one of the fastest growing cities in the world. Against this backdrop, the study was conducted to assess the prevalence of malnutrition among women and adolescents and its association with various socio-economic variables.

Nutritional status of school‐age children (5–19 years) in South Asia: A scoping review

“…Twenty‐one studies explored differences between rural and urban areas and the majority of them (16 studies) (Bellundagi et al, 2022; Bhargava et al, 2016; Biswas et al, 2017; Chakraborty et al, 2018; Ganie et al, 2017; Goonapienuwala et al, 2022; Harding et al, 2019; Hombaiah et al, 2021; Islam et al, 2020; Khan et al, 2022; Khatri et al, 2021; Mohan et al, 2019; Pandurangi et al, 2022; Prasad et al, 2016; Yadav et al, 2018; Young et al, 2020) found a higher prevalence of overweight and/or obesity in urban areas. Differences in overweight/obesity prevalence for males and females were inconsistent across studies; however, a pooled analysis combining 2416 population‐based measurements found that BMI was higher among girls compared to boys in South Asia (NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD‐RisC), 2017).…”

“…No difference in underweight by gender was reported in one study (Verma et al, 2020 ). Underweight was reported as being greater among rural populations in three studies, reporting data from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh (Bellundagi et al, 2022 ; Khan et al, 2022 ; Wolf et al, 2020 ), compared to urban populations, while just one study, conducted in India (Tripathi & Chakravarti, 2022 ), reported a higher prevalence of underweight among urban, compared to rural populations.…”

“…Among studies that presented data on obesity, this ranged from 0.1% (Pakistan in 2013) (Harding et al, 2019) Twenty-one studies explored differences between rural and urban areas and the majority of them (16 studies) (Bellundagi et al, 2022;Bhargava et al, 2016;Biswas et al, 2017;Chakraborty et al, 2018;Ganie et al, 2017;…”

Trends and socioeconomic disparities in undernutrition among Muslim women in India: evidence from the last two decades (1998–2021)

“…This problem is especially pronounced among the economically and socially disadvantaged and vulnerable sections (Bhattacharya et al ., 2019). Within these vulnerable sections, women are often identified and acknowledged as particularly affected (Bellundagi et al ., 2022). The pervasive gender-based discrimination in India, spanning from the ancient to the current times, results in numerous challenges for women, including in areas of education, occupation and nutrition (Choudhary and Singh, 2018).…”

“…The pervasive gender-based discrimination in India, spanning from the ancient to the current times, results in numerous challenges for women, including in areas of education, occupation and nutrition (Choudhary and Singh, 2018). Also, research on the interlinkages between child outcomes and parental characteristics indicates that children's outcomes, especially in education and health, heavily rely on their mother's educational and health status (Bellundagi et al ., 2022).…”