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Background: Menarche seems be related to the relative distribution rather than the total amount of body fat. Previous studies showed that the ratio between lower-body vs. upper-body fat was associated with the timing of menarche. Aim: To compare the relative distribution of subcutaneous fat among Bengali Hindu pre-.and post-menarcheal girls. Materials and Methods: The participants were 234 Bengali Hindu girls aged 11-14 years: 111 pre-menarcheal and 123 post-menarcheal girls, randomly selected from a secondary school from a suburb of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Triceps, abdominal, sub-scapular, and calf skinfolds were measured. For each skinfold site, ratio was calculated as follows: Log (one skinfold/sum of skinfolds). Principal components (PC) analysis was performed to derive components which express the maximum contrast among the log of ratios. T-test was employed to assess differences between individual scores of components between pre-.and post-menarcheal girls. Results: The three identified PC suggested extremities-trunk, lower trunk-upper trunk, and an upper extremity-lower extremity contrasts, respectively. Scores for second and third components showed significant differences between pre- and post-menarcheal groups of girls. Conclusion: The attainment of menarche by Bengali girls aged 11-14 years was associated with characteristically more relative subcutaneous fat distribution in the upper trunk and in the lower limbs, in contrast to lower trunk and upper limbs, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High prevalence of low birth weight, high morbidity and mortality in children and poor child health to be major nutritional concerns in India. In addition, the Indian population is passing through a nutritional transition and is expected to witness higher prevalence of adult noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and coronary heart disease according to the theory of 'fetal origin of adult disease'. Although nationwide intervention programmes are in operation over two decades, the situation has not changed greatly. Clearly, there is a need for examining several issues of nutritional significance for effective planning of interventions. In particular, maternal nutrition and fetal growth relationship, long term effects of early life undernutrition, interactions of prenatal nutritional experiences and postnatal undernutrition are some of the major issues. Malnutrition (undernutrition or overnutrition) is a problem at varying proportions in developing countries, mad anthropometry is a simple tool to assess its magnitude in children. This community-based cross-sectional study was undertaken to determine the magnitude of undernutrition among 549 school children (boys = 291 and girls = 258) aged 5-9 years of rural areas of East Midnapore district of West Bengal in India. The collected data was analyzed using the recommended indices of height for-age (stunting] and weight-for-age (underweight) based on the NCHS standard. Prevalence of stunting (overall = 29.7%, boys = 29.6%. girls = 29.8%) and underweight (overall = 53.4%, boys = 54.6%. girls = 51.9%) was alarming among the children studied. There was not much difference between boys and girls for nutritional status. Moreover, the age variations in stunting and underweight demonstrate similar age-trend for both the sex groups. Compared to undernutrition levels identified in other Third World countries, rural Bengalee children of the present study had very high rates. Thus, this study provided evidence that undernutrition is still a leading problem among rural Bengalee primary school children of West Bengal and this has not improved in spite of nutrition intervention programmes which are currently in operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated age and sex variations in height and weight, levels of stunting, underweight and wasting among 533 (254 boys; 279 girls) 3- to 5-year-old rural children of Bengalee ethnicity at 11 Integrated Child Development Services centres of Nadia District, West Bengal, India. Height-for-age, weight-for-age and weight-for-height < −2 z-scores were used to evaluate stunting, underweight and wasting, respectively, following the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Guidelines. Results revealed that boys were significantly heavier than girls at age 3 years. Significant age differences existed in mean height and weight in both sexes. Mean z-scores of height-for-age, weight-for-age and weight-for-height were lower than those of NCHS for both sexes at all ages. The overall (age and sex combined) rates of stunting, underweight and wasting were 23.9%, 31.0% and 9.4%, respectively. The rate of underweight and wasting was higher among girls (underweight = 35.1%, wasting = 12.2%) compared with boys (underweight = 26.5%, wasting = 6.3%). In general, the frequency of stunting increased with increasing age in both sexes. Based on the World Health Organization classification of severity of malnutrition, the overall prevalence of underweight was very high (≥30%). The prevalence rates of stunting (20–29%) and wasting (5–9%) were medium. In conclusion, the nutritional status of the subjects is unsatisfactory. There is scope for improvement in the form of enhanced supplementary nutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cross-sectional study was undertaken to determine anthropometric profile and the prevalence of chronic energy deficiency (CED), based on body mass index (BMI) of adult Santals, a tribal population of Jhargram, West Medinipur District, West Bengal, India. A total of 410 adult (aged > 18 years) Santals of six villages (Jharagaria, Jamiderdanga, Jamda, Jaynagar, Chapashol, and Lukudahi) near Jhargram town of West Medinipur District, West Bengal, India, were studied. These villages are located within 15 km. (approximately) from Jhargram town and 150 km. from Kolkata, the provincial capital of West Bengal. Anthropometric measurements including height, weight, and circumferences as well as BMI were measured using standard protocol. Overall, the extent of CED (BMI In conclusion, this study provided evidence that although the anthropometric and nutritional profile of adult Santals was better than some of the other tribal populations of eastern India, immediate appropriate nutritional intervention programs are needed for implementation among Santals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]