Energy expenditure on household, childcare and occupational activities of women from urban poor households

Abstract

This present study attempts to measure the energy cost of activities of women from the poor socio-economic group in India. Women in the age group of 18-40 years (n98) either working for incomes or classified as homemakers were randomly selected. Time disposition studies were conducted by a 24 h observation of their activities on a typical day. Predominant activities were identified from the activity profiles and standardized for posture and duration. The BMR (Douglas bag method) and energy cost of the activities (Kofranyi-Michaelis meter) were measured by indirect calorimetry. The energy consumption during these activities ranged from 2.94-12.51 kJ/min. The tasks were divided into standard, household, childcare, occupational and other activities. Using the World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organization/United Nations University (1985) criteria, attempts were made to categorize the activities into light, moderate and heavy. It was significant that except for walking, the standard activities and occupational work could be classified into the light category (<2.2 BMR). Most of the household and childcare activities except cooking were classified into the moderate to heavy (2.2->2.8 BMR). The energy expenditure of activities did not differ significantly between women with different occupations. This present study provides an important database on energy costs of activities for computing energy requirements of women involved in similar activity patterns.