Akinlotan
J.V, Nupo S .S and Olorode O.O
Department Of Food Science and Technology
Moshood Abiola
Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Ogun State
e- mail: sundaynupo@yahoo
ABSTRACT
Prison
is an ancient instrument where diverse people who had run foul of the law, some
of them possibly innocent lives. Food plays a major role in the life of
prisoners, poorly designed meal, inadequate portion sizes, lack of variety and
poorly cooked food can contribute to serious health conditions. Representative
samples of one hundred and eighty seven (187) inmates were selected from Oyo
state prison randomly. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to obtain
information on demographic characteristics, lifestyle, health status, sanitary
information, nutritional knowledge and frequency of food consumption. Data were
analyzed using SPSS version 15.0. The result of the demographic characteristics
of the respondents showed that majority of the respondents were within the age
range 19-59 years, most of them were married and had nuclear family. The result
of the lifestyle and health status of the respondents revealed that majority of
the respondents (95%) were cigarette smokers, the result of their health status
showed that most of the respondents (80%) had malaria as their regular illness
and got sick at least once in a month. Anthropometric measurements (height,
weight, arm, waist and hip) of the respondents were measured to determine the
body mass index (BMI), waist-hip ratio (WHR) and mid upper arm circumference
(MUAC) which were used to determine their nutritional status. The result of the
nutritional status showed that most of the respondents (59%) had normal weight,
4% were underweight, and 29% overweight while 7% obese. Information on the food intake obtained from
24 hours dietary recall techniques showed that the energy intake were higher than
WHO, 2000 recommended intake while protein intake was low. The nutritional
status of the respondents can be improved if proper nutritional status
counseling and care can be given. The prisons were not as worse as people view
it.
Keynotes: Prison, Anthropometric, Information,
Overweight, Nutritional
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