Assessment of nutritional status and anthropometric compositions of over-nourished adults (36-64 years) in Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Nutrition deals with the utilization of food nutrients by the body for growth, development, maintenance, and physical activities. Often, ignorance, misunderstanding and malpractice lead to malnutrition, especially among adults. The nutrition status of overnourished adults is characterized by lifestyles, excessive energy and nutrient intake, leading to health complications. This study was conducted to assess the nutritional status and anthropometric composition of overnourished adults (36-64 years) in Imo State, Nigeria. This longitudinal study recruited 432 overnourished adults through multi-stage random sampling techniques as the subjects. It was divided into before intervention, intervention and after intervention stages with subjects grouped into groups 1, 2, and 3 (the experimental groups) and group 4 (the control group). Anthropometric and dietary methods of nutrition assessment were applied to assess the nutrition status before and after the intervention. While a combination of nutrition education/counseling, dietary reduction and planned physical activities were used as the intervention in the experimental groups, no intervention was carried out on the control group. Data was collected using conventional machine tools and manually produced plaster-of-Paris-based food model visual aids and analyzed using statistical package for social science (version 25) and double method. The results showed that there were statistically significant reductions in nutrient intakes of group 1 and group 3 (p = 0.001), statistically significant in the planned physical activities of group 2 and group 3 (p = 0.000), and statistically significant improvements in overnutrition indices (p < 0.05) in the experiment groups after the intervention, with no noticeable change on group 4. In conclusion, this study established that a combination of nutrition education/counseling, dietary reduction and planned physical activities have positive effects on the anthropometric indices of overnourished adults (36-64 years). Therefore, overnutrition indices among adults (36-64 years) in Imo State can be improved and sustained through a combination of nutrition education/counseling, healthy dietary reduction (healthy rations) and planned physical activities. And nutrition status and lifestyle modifications should be a compulsory subject/course of its own in all levels of education in Imo State.