Anaemia and work performance of pre-adolescent girls engaged in sports activities

Abstract

A study on "Anaemia and work performance of pre- adolescent girls engaged in sports activities was carried out to assess the prevalence of ana.emia and its consequences on performance. Details pertaining to the socio-economic variables. dietary habits, food consumption pattern, energy balance. nutritional status and physical endurance built up of the respondents were studied in detail. The surveyed'respondents under study belonged to low economic strata. Social status of the respondents indicated that majority belonged to christian community and are from under privileged communities. Nuclear type families of medium size are common among the surveyed respondents. All the pre-adolescent athletes studied were habitual non-vegetarians. Frequency of use of various foods among the respondents revealed that cereals, milk, fat and sugars were the items used daily in the dietaries while roots and tubers, ftuits, fish and egg were used frequently. Four meal-a-day pattern was followed by majority of the respondents. Food preference of respondents indicated that rice was the most preferred cereal and green gram the most preferred pulse among the respondents. Less preference was recorded for green leafy vegetable while vegetables were medium preferred

(bA- food i terns among the r e s p o nd e n t s . Tapioca was the most preferred roots and tuber, while mango and plantain preferred by all the respondents. Milk and milk products, animal foods, bakery items and other processed foods and health drinks were found to be liked by all of them. Food consumption pattern of the respondents indicated that except pulses all other food groups were inadequately met when compared with the suggested levels of food for athletes. With regard to nutrient intake, Vitamin A and Ascorbic acid were met above the RDA suggested, while calories and iron were almost adequately met. Rest of the nutrients were found to be inadequate in the dietaries of the athletes. However energy balance with respect to energy intake and expenditure was found to depict positive trend in majority of the respondents. On analysing anthropometric data, it was found that weight for age of the athletes were found to be slightly below the national and international standards suggested where as height for age was found to be on par with the Indian Standards. Body mass index and waist hip ratio were found to be satisfactory in majority of respondents. It is encouraging to note that pre-adolescent athletes have well built arm muscle area with adequate lean body mass and body fat. Clinical examination of the respondents revealed only mild forms of anaemia among some of the respondents.

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Biochemical investigations carried out indicate atisfactory iron balance among the respondents. It is interesting to note that physical endurance ndicators assessed were in support of good aerobic and maerobic power in the respondents. The performance index of the respondents appeared to ie sound and ranged between 11.7 to 13.6 and the nutri t i o n a I .t a t u s index of the respondents fall between 169 to 176. A positive s i g n i f' i c a n t correlation was observed ie t w e e n Nutritional Sta.tus Index with calorie intake, Inthropometric measurements and haemoglobin levels. -er f o r man ce Index showed positive significant correlation with rg e of the respondents, anthropometric parameters, dietary .a r i a b l e s , biochemical parameters and physical endurance indicators. Performance Index of the respondents was also found to be significantly influenced by Nutritional Status Index of the respondents.