Growth and nutritional status of Khasi boys in Northeast India relating to exogamous marriages and socioeconomic classes

Dados Bibliográficos

ID8314005
AutoresR Khongsdier (North Eastern Hill University, autor correspondente), Nandita Mukherjee (0009-0001-8035-9675)
Ano2003
Volume122
Fascículo2
Páginas162-170
Data de publicação2003-10-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0002-9483 • E-ISSN: 1096-8644
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ajpa.10305
PMID12949836
OpenAlexW2124228807
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas9
Referências citadas22

The Khasis are one of the matrilineal tribes of Meghalaya in Northeast India. They belong to the Indo‐Mongoloid racial stock, and speak the Monkhmer language of the Austro‐Asiatic group. They have their own traditional religion ( Niam Khasi ), but about 65% of them have converted to Christianity. A few Khasi members have also embraced Islam through matrimonial relationship with immigrant Muslim males. The present study was based on a cross‐sectional sample of 1,351 urban Khasi boys aged 3–18 years belonging to these three religious groups, with a view to understanding the effects of socioeconomic factors on growth and nutritional status, using anthropometric variables such as weight and height. The findings showed that about 60%, 29%, and 6% of these boys were below −2 Z‐scores of the US National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) references in respect of weight for age, height for age, and body mass index for age, respectively. The logistic regression coefficient (β ± standard error) indicated that the prevalence of low weight for age (below −2 Z‐scores of the NCHS references) was positively associated with age (0.088 ± 0.014, P P P P > 0.05). There were also significant differences between religious groups in respect of anthropometric variables. Allowing for household income, the ANCOVA test indicated that Muslim Khasi boys, who were the offspring of intermarriages between Khasi females and immigrant Muslim males, were significantly heavier and taller than Christian and Niam Khasi boys almost across ages. From about 3–10 years of age, Muslim Khasi boys were, on average, comparable to the 5th and 25th percentiles of the NCHS references of height and weight, respectively. Although it looks as though genetic mechanisms like heterosis and/or gene flow might also be associated with the larger body size in Muslim boys, such a conjecture could only be substantiated or refuted by further studies concerning genetic and more socioeconomic data on both immigrant and nonimmigrant populations. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc

Anthropometry · Body mass index · Exogamy · Geography · Khasi · Logistic regression · Malnutrition · Population · Socioeconomic status · Sociology · Weight for Age · Anthropology · Child Nutrition and Water Access · Demography · Dietary Effects on Health · Endocrinology · Historical and modern epidemiology studies · Medicine