ABSTRACT

The market place as an occupational environment can predispose individuals to obesity, mainly due to the sedentary nature and enhanced access to food. The crosssectional study was undertaken to assess the nutrition knowledge, attitude towards nutrition and nutritional status of market women in Orieagu market in Ehime Mbano LGA, Imo State. This involved 400 women who were randomly selected using a structured questionnaire that is comprised, of personal, socioeconomic, knowledge, attitude and practice based questions. Anthropometric measurements were used to assess the Body Mass index (BMI) and waist hip circumference ratio (WHR). A 24-hour dietary recall and food frequency questionnaire were used to obtain information on the frequency of consuming different foods. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics using SPSS version 22.0. Below half(46.8%) of the women had poor knowledge of nutrition, 26.8% had fair knowledge and 25.8% had good knowledge. This was due to 11.4% that had knowledge ofiron deficiency anaemia, 43.5% that were acquainted with the knowledge of vitamin A deficiency and 64.5% that knew iodine deficiency. Few (18%) of the women perceived their likelihood of being susceptible to anaemia, 56.3% felt good about preparing food with iron rich foods, 54.8% felt good cooking with vitamin A rich foods. Some of the foods consumed most often by the women were stew with fresh tomato and pepper (64.2%), okro soup(49.8%..),milk(45.2%), fat and oil(42.5%), gam and soup with cocoyam(32.5%) was also eaten by them most often. However, some . (33.5%)were of normal weight, majority (79%) were at risk of cardiovascular diseases going by the WHR classifications. Prevalence of obesity was high (18.3%) probably due to their intake of highly saturated fatty foods, carbonated food and starchy food, coupled with their sedentary lifestyles which made it imperative for the women to be educated on the need to watch what they eat and also engage themselves in regular physical exercise. Therefore the women should be encouraged to take in a lot of vegetables to help in weight management. They should also cultivate the habit of standing and walking around from time to time while in the market.