title: Growth and nutritional status of the Bharia--a primitive tribe of Madhya Pradesh.
abstract: This study is an attempt to understand the physical growth and nutritional status of Bharia, a primitive tribe of Central India. A cross sectional study was conducted on 551 children (283 boys and 268 girls) aged 4 to 18 years. Body weight, height, sitting height, head circumference, upper arm circumference, chest circumference, biceps, triceps, sub scapular and calf skin fold thickness were measured. Body Mass Index was calculated as weight/height2 to calculate chronic energy deficiency. All anthropometric measurements except skin fold measurement exhibit uniform increase with age in both the sexes. Age-specific Body Mass Index (BMI) indicated substantial changes and falls during pre-school age and rise in adolescence. The BMI according to the Indian standard was normal, but when the data was compared with the International standard malnutrition in both sexes was noticed in childhood. Boys remained undernourished after adolescence, while girls reached the normal growth patterns.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, Dr. H. S. Gour University, Sagar, M. P., India.
authors.forename: Manis Kumar
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Tiwari
authors.forename: K K N
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Susmita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bharati
authors.forename: Dipak Kumar
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Adak
authors.forename: Rohini
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.forename: Premananda
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bharati
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006128:Growth; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D012885:Skinfold Thickness