Abstract:
The present study entitled 'Effect of amaranth on the health and
nutritional profile of adolescents' was conducted among 120 adolescents, selected
from juvenile home and orphanage in Trichur district on the basis of occurrence of
anaemia. The selected samples were divided into three groups viz., control, 2/3rrl
RDA and full RDA groups, consisting of 40 adolescents in each group.
Food consumption pattern of the inmates revealed that all were non-
vegetarians and rice formed their staple food. The daily used food items by the
inmates of the institutions included cereals, pulses, roots and tubers, other
vegetables, milk, fats and oils, sugar and spices. Advanced meal planning was
done in both the institutions.
The acceptability study of amaranth recipes showed that they were
acceptable with respect to different quality parameters. Among the recipes, cheera
minced meat thoran obtained the highest score in the acceptability study and'
cheera pittu scored the lowest. The 10 recipes which obtained the highest total
scores were selected for the feeding trial.
The nutrient analysis of fresh amaranth and amaranth recipes showed
that the protein content of most of the recipes were higher than the fresh amaranth.
All the recipes had higher starch and soluble carbohydrate content than fresh
amaranth. The fibre content of cheera thoran, cheera vada, cheera curry and cheera
green gram thoran were higher than the fresh and cheera thoran and cheera curry
had higher iron content compared to fresh amaranth. All the recipes showed lo;ver
content of calcium,ft carotene and vitamin C compared with fresh amaranth.
Assessment of the nutritional status of adolescents after the
supplementation study revealed significant increments m anthropometric
measurements, haematological indices and mean scores of the functional
performance test in all the three groups with greater increase in full RDA?U1d 2/3rrl
RDA groups compared to control group. The distribution of adolescents into
various nutritional status based on weight for height and body mass index revealed
changes in nutritional status irrespective of the groups.
The most common nutritional deficiency disease observed among
. adolescents was anaemia, which was reduced in all the three groups after the
supplementation study. Dental caries was also observed among adolescents
irrespective of the group.
