Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T14:44:20.881Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The assessment of total energy expenditure of female farmers under field conditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Thierry Brun
Thierry Brun
Affiliation:
Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier, France
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The paper reviews methods, and their difficulties, in the measurement of the daily energy expenditure of rural women under field conditions in developing countries. Since all methods need to be validated against a reference method which is usually based on indirect calorimetry, examples of the use of this technique are given. The energy costs of most agricultural and daily tasks of rural women in developing countries have been measured. Large intra- and inter-individual variations in the cost of a single activity occur, so repeated measurements are needed to obtain a valid mean energy cost for a specific activity for a homogeneous group of individuals.

Much work remains to be done on the assessment of the duration and the intensity of the physical activity of the rural adolescent and adult female population. Studies indicate that the workload of most rural women in developing countries is excessive and frequently associated with acute poverty.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 24 , Special Issue 3: Workshop on Methodology and Protocol of Human Fertility Studies under Field Conditions , July 1992 , pp. 325 - 333
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ancey, G. (1974) Facteurs et Système de Production dans la Société Mossi d'Aujourd'hui. ORSTOM, Centre de Ouagadougou, Haute-Volta.Google Scholar
Bleiberg, F. M., Brun, T. A., Goihman, S. & Gouba, E. (1980) Duration and activity and energy expenditure of female farmers in dry and rainy seasons in Upper Volta. Br. J. Nutr. 43, 71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bleiberg, F. M., Brun, T. A., Goihman, S. & Lippmann, D. (1981) Food intake and energy expenditure of male and female farmers from Upper Volta. Br. J. Nutr. 45, 505.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bradfield, R. B., Huntzicker, P. & Fruehan, G. (1969) Simultaneous comparison of respirometry and heart-rate telemetry techniques as measures of human energy expenditure. Am. J. clin. Nutr. 22, 696.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brun, T. A. (1984) Physiological measurements of activity among adults under free living conditions. In: Energy Intake and Activity. Edited by Politt, E. & Amante, P.. Alan Liss, New York.Google Scholar
Brun, T. A. (1991) The nutrition and health impact of cash cropping in West Africa: a historical perspective. World Rev. Nutr. Diet, 65, 124.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brun, T. A., Bleiberg, F. Bonny & Ancey, G. (1980) Alimentation et dépense énergétique du payasian mossi. Environnement Africain, 14–15–16. ENDA, Dakar.Google Scholar
Brun, T. A., Daxun, J., Geissler, C., Zhiyuan, C., Tie Fu, S., Aubert, Y. C. & Schoeller, D. (1988) Food Consumption and Work Capacity in a Tropical Environment in China. INSERM, Paris.Google Scholar
Brun, T. A., Geissler, C. A. & Kennedy, E. (1990) The impact of agricultural projects on food, nutrition and health. World Rev. Nutr. Diet, 65, 99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Consolazio, C. F., Johnson, R. E. & Pecora, L. E. (1963) Physiological Measurements of Metabolic Functions in Man. McGraw-Hill, New York.Google Scholar
Durnin, J. V. G. A. & Passmore, R. (1967) Energy, Work and Leisure. Heinemann Educational, London.Google Scholar
Fox, R. H. (1953) Energy Expenditure of Africans Engaged in Various Agricultural Activities. PhD thesis, University of London.Google Scholar
Harrison, M. H., Brown, G. A. & Belyavin, A. J. (1982) The oxylog: an evaluation. Ergonomics, 25, 809.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
James, W. P. T. & Schofield, E. C. (1990) Human Energy Requirement. Oxford Medical, Oxford.Google Scholar
Kofranyi, E. & Michaelis, H. F. (1949) Ein trägbarer Apparat zur Bestimmung des Gasstoffwechsels. Arbeitphysiologie, 2, 148.Google Scholar
Laurence, M., Singh, F., Laurence, F. & Whitehead, R. G. (1988) Energy Requirement of Pregnancy and Lactation: the Energy Cost of Common Daily Activities in The Gambia. Annual report. MRC Dunn Nutrition Unit, Cambridge, UK, and Kenneba Gambia, Nestlé Foundation.Google Scholar
Passmore, R. & Durnin, J. V. G. A. (1955) Human energy expenditure. Physiol. Rev. 35, 801.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Phillips, P. G. (1954) The metabolic cost of common West African agricultural activities. J. trop. Med. 57, 12.Google ScholarPubMed
Schoeller, D. A. & Van Santen, E. (1982) Measurement of energy expenditure in humans by doubly labelled water method. J. appl. Physiol. Respirat. Environ. Exercise Physiol. 53, 955.Google Scholar