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Nutrition and Health (including climate and ecological aspects)

A comparative analysis of dietary intake and body composition among two ethnically distinct tribal populations from India

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 76, pages 1423–1431 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objectives

The present paper is an attempt to understand ethnic variations in the association of dietary intake with body composition in two geographically and genetically diverse adult populations, i.e., Santhal, an indigenous group from the plain regions of eastern India and Monpa, an indigenous population from the high-altitude regions of north-eastern India.

Methods

A total number of 200 adult Monpa and 204 adult Santhal were recruited for the present investigation, which was conducted in phases. Multiple and multivariate regression frameworks were used in the paper to evaluate the influence of dietary intake on body composition.

Results

In somatotype, the Santhal were found to be predominantly mesomorphic, whereas the Monpa were predominantly endomorphic, irrespective of their gender. Similarly, significantly (p < 0.001) greater percentages of overweight and obese individuals were found among the Monpa, but not among the Santhal.

Conclusions

Despite the fact that both these tribes are engaged in primitive technology-based agriculture that requires a lot of physical labour, such difference in their body composition could be due to fundamental differences in the physical environment and great dietary/nutritional intake. In fact, it was found that Monpa follow a daily diet that is highly rich in dairy fat and animal protein, as compared to their counterpart Santhal. Santhal’s daily diet generally consists of rice and boil vegetables, with protein consumption as low as once or twice a month. However, despite these differences the paper revealed no significant influence of dietary intake on the body composition of these populations. Hence, an adaptive approach is proposed to understand the substantial proportion of body composition variations in these two ethnically diverse populations.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2: Inter-ethnic variations of body mass index.
Fig. 3: Inter-ethnic variations of body fat status.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

SG gratefully acknowledges the financial support rendered by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India and by the University Grant Commission (UGC) Raman Post Doctoral fellowship to Indian for studying in Syracuse University, NY, USA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya, 793022, India

    Sudipta Ghosh

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  1. Sudipta Ghosh
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SG contributed the study design, collected the data and performed the statistical analyses along with writing the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sudipta Ghosh.

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The author declares no competing interests.

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All the participants gave written informed consent according to the guidelines established by the institutional ethics committees of North-Eastern Hill University and University of Delhi, India.

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Ghosh, S. A comparative analysis of dietary intake and body composition among two ethnically distinct tribal populations from India. Eur J Clin Nutr 76, 1423–1431 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-022-01121-6

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