Overweight, Obesity and Socio-economic Change among Tangkhul Naga Tribal Women of Manipur, North East India

Background: The prevalence of overweight and obesity is increasing worldwide at an alarming rate. Although in countries like India, which is multi-ethnic having multi socio-economic levels, is typically known for high prevalence of under nutrition, significant proportions of overweight and obese now coexist with the undernourished. 

Objectives: The study aims to find the prevalence of overweight and obesity, and its association with socio-economic change among Tangkhul Naga women of Manipur, North East India and also to compare with other female populations of India.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 346 Tangkhul Naga tribal women of Manipur, age ranging from 20 to 70 years, divided into five different age groups with ten years interval each. 

Results and conclusions: Mean BMI was found to be lowest among the youngest age group and it increased with age till fifty nine years and then declined. BMI was assessed using recommended cut-off points for Asians and the prevalence of overweight and obesity among the Tangkhul Naga women was found to be 27.1%. When BMI was assessed using the WHO International Classification of adult overweight and obesity, the prevalence percentage was 9.8. Though the prevalence of obesity among Tangkhul females (2.0%) was low when compared to Indian non-tribal female populations the prevalence of overweight (25.1%) was not far behind. Tangkhul Naga is a population where majority of them were believed to be thin traditionally owing to difficult hilly terrain habitation and physically active lifestyle. With urbanization and economic development, a nutritional transition characterized by improved dietary habits, improvement in socio-economic status and increasingly sedentary lifestyle has been observed which has contributed to the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity among the Tangkhul Naga tribal women