ABSTRACT
The aim of the study was to assess the impact of nutrition counselling on food intake and anthropometric measurements in postmenopausal women. Sixty postmenopausal women were selected from two villages of Sangrur district and were divided into two groups—Group I (Control) and Group II (Experimental) containing 30 subjects each. Subjects of Group II were imparted nutrition counselling (NC) regarding benefits of Aloe vera and its use in diet in individual and group contacts once in a week, for a period of three months. Aloe vera plants were also distributed to be used in their diets. Dietary intake of subjects for 3 consecutive days by 24 hr recall method was recorded before and after nutrition counselling. The average daily nutrient intake of diets was calculated by using Diet Cal. Anthropometric parameters were calculated before and after counselling. Dietary survey revealed that intake of cereals, fats/oil and sugar/jaggery decreased significantly (p ≤ 0.05) whereas intake of green leafy vegetable, other vegetables and fruits increase significantly (p ≤ 0.01) after counselling. A significant decrease in energy, carbohydrate, fat and significant increase intake in iron, calcium, potassium, Vitamin C and β-carotene content was observed. A significant reduction was observed for weight, body mass index (BMI), mid upper arm circumference (MUAC), triceps skinfold thickness (TSFT) and waist hip ratio (WHR) by 4.9%, 3.98%, 2.9% and 2.17% respectively, while random blood sugar (RBS), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) decreased by 25.21%, 13.74% and 8.03% after counselling. After nutrition counselling subjects adopted good nutritional practices and use of Aloe vera leaves in diets which improved their health status of postmenopausal women.