Assessment of Nutritional Status: Tribal Issues and Opinions

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Dr. Swapan Kumar Kolay born in 1966 at Midnapur, West Bengal. He obtained M.Sc. with first division in Anthropology (1992) and Ph.D (1999) from the University of Sagar, M.P. He has done Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Development from Indira Gandhi National Open University. Dr. Kolay got both Doctoral & Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship from Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Govt. of India, New Delhi. His worked with Cultural Research Institute, Kolkata: A. N. Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna, Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi and Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal. He has rich research experience in conducting Tribal development, Tribal health and Natural resource management based research on 25 different tribes in 15 states in India. He was attended and organized many workshops, training programme and National and International level seminars. He is a life member of Indian Science Congress Association, Kolkata, Indian Anthropological Society, Kolkata; Indian Anthropological Association, Delhi, INCA, Kolkata; Institute of Social Research & Applied Anthropology, Kolkata: Purna Chandra Memorial Institute of Social Research & Development, Kolkata. Dr. Kolay published more than 100 research based articles in different National, International journals and 10 books to his credit. At present he is Associate Professor & Head, Department of Anthropology and Tribal Studies and Dean of Student Welfare, Bastar University, Chhattisgarh.

Ms Sukla Sikder (b. 8th December 1989) is a Teaching Assistant under the UGC doctoral program at the Department of Anthropology, West Bengal State University (WBSU), since 2015. She is also teaching Anthropology in an undergraduate college affiliated to WBSU. She is pursuing her doctoral research as UGC Senior Research Fellow in Anthropology at WBSU. She earned her Masters degree in Anthropology with specialization in Biological Anthropology in first class in the year 2012. Her areas of research interest include Gender Studies, Child Health and Nutrition, Ethno-medicines and Tribal studies. Ms Sikder has worked as a Project Fellow in the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata and also in WBSU, She has published a book, a number of research articles in peer-reviewed journals and presented papers in various National and International seminars in India and Nepal. Ms Sikder has also completed many UGC and ICSSR sponsored workshops and Faculty Development Programs in various reputed Universities and institutes in different states of India.

Mr Sudru Ram Patel Post-graduate M.Sc in Anthropology and secure in first class from Bastar University, jagdalpur (CG.). Mr. Sudru has participated in National and International Seminars/ Workshops.

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Nutritional issues which have drawn attention from research and teaching point of view. In course of investigation authors have adopted both subjective and objective approaches to understand the concept of health and nutrition. Neither health nor nutrition can be understood in isolation from the socio-economic background of the tribal community and macro-micro level socio-political undercurrents. In this context authors have also underlined the importance of culture, including indigenous knowledge, in the management issues relating to health and nutrition. And the role of culture and tradition have been intensively examined while discussing nutritional status of Dhurwa tribe in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. The ability to accurately assess nutritional status of tribal has become critically important in recent decades, as knowledge of and interest in the relationships between diet and health have increased. Nutritional researchers must be able to measure food and nutrient intake with accuracy and precision before drawing conclusions about how health and risk for disease are influenced by what tribal people eat. Periodic monitoring of the nation's health and nutritional status is necessary to develop effective programs targeting specific health and nutrition concerns. Awareness of these health and nutrition concerns has led the government to establish such programs as the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children. Periodic nutritional and health monitoring provides data to determine the cost-effectiveness of such programs in attempts to preserve effective programs from changing political agendas and governmental budgetary priorities. Dieticians and physicians rely on objective measures of nutritional status before administering nutritional support to a critically ill patient and to determine that patient's responsiveness to treatment. The public is increasingly interested in the health implications of taking nutritional supplements and of knowing how much of which supplements can actually improve health and prevent disease. The Nutritional Assessment addresses including computerized dietary analysis systems, national surveys of dietary intake and nutritional status, assessment techniques, nutritional assessment in the prevention of such diseases as coronary heart disease and diabetes, clinical assessment, and proper counselling techniques. It is expected that it would be beneficial for students of anthropology, biology, demography, economics, geography, political science, population studies, sociology, medicine, public health and public health management ele.

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Nutritional health is maintained by a state of equilibrium in which nutrient intake and requirements balance. Malnutrition occurs when net nutrient intakes (nutrient intake corrected for abnormally large fecal or urinary losses) is less than requirements. Malnutrition leads to a succession of metabolic abnormalities, physiologic changes, reduced organ and tissue function, and loss of body mass. Concurrent stress such as trauma, sepsis, inflammation. and burns accelerates loss of tissue mass and function. Ultimately, critical loss of body mass and function occur and result in death. The evaluation of the nutritional status is a broad topic, and to be of clinical importance the ideal method should be able to predict whether the individual would have increased morbidity and mortality in the absence of nutritional support. In short, can it predict the occurrence of nutrition associated complications and thus predict outcome? Unfortunately, disease and nutrition interact so that disease in turn may cause secondary malnutrition or malnutrition may adversely influence the underlying disease. Thus, patient outcomes are multifactorial, and attempting to formulate the influence of malnutrition on outcome based on single parameters or simple models fails to consider the many interacting factors. This complexity has been recognized in the recent recommendations by the American Dietetic Association (1994). Traditional nutritional science was first developed in the field of agriculture, where the effect of nutrition was judged entirely by the amount of meat on the carcass of animals and the production of proteins by the liver. This approach was embodied in the initial attempts to assess nutritional status in humans as given under "traditional nutritional assessment indices". These techniques lacked the ability to predict outcome and to detect early changes in function that occur with nutritional support.