Relationship between Consumption of Convenience Foods and Health Status of the Working Women

Consumption of convenience foods has been found to be inexorable in modern scenario due to rapid urbanization, changing life-style of women, rising purchasing power and adaptation to western culture. The chief objective was to assess the correlation between health status and frequency and consumption of convenience foods among working (employed) and non-working (unemployed) women. A total of 120 subjects aged 25-40 years including 60 working as school teachers, bank employees or those working in private sector for 6-8 hours per day and 60 non-working women with family monthly income ranging from Rs. 1-2 lakhs were selected randomly from Ludhiana city. Majority of working women (41.7%) spent more than 30% of their total food expenditure on convenience foods, while among non-working women, it was 8.3%. Working women consumed bakery products, ready-to-eat snacks, ready-to-cook products and beverages thrice a week; sandwich spreads and frozen foods twice a week; sweets rarely whereas non-working women consumed these products fortnightly/ rarely. The average body mass index (BMI), waist-hip ratio (W/H) and total lipid profile was found to be significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher among working women whereas a non-significant difference was observed for Glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) and Haemoglobin (Hb) levels. BMI, waist-hip ratio, total blood cholesterol and triglycerides were found to be significantly (p ≤ 0.01) correlated with consumption of convenience foods among women. Excessive consumption of convenience foods is one of the major factors for higher incidence of obesity and other non-communicable diseases among women.