ABSTRACT

Women are mostly vulnerable on all dimensions of food security: availability, access, utilization and stability. The study assessed the household food security and anthropometric status of women in Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State. The study was across sectional carried out on 200 non pregnant and non-lactating women, sampled from the population of women in the Local Government Area. The study collected data using a structured questionnaire which was validated by experts from the Department of Human Nutrition. The data realized were analyzed using descriptive statistics while the association between food security and anthropometric status of the women were analyzed using chi-square. The result showed that Majority (90.0%) of the women were Christians, most (67.0%) were married, and more than half (52.0) had only secondary education. The food security status of the women showed that more than half (58.0%) of the women were food secure. On anthropometry, almost half (47.1%) of the women were overweight while many (37.7%) were obese. On WHR, more than half (57.2%) were at moderate risk of obesity and 30.4% were at high risk of obesity. Finally the result showed a significant (P<0.05) association between food security status of the women and their anthropometric status (X²= 78.90, P = 0.00). The study concluded that women in Ikeduru L.G.A even though food secure are suffering from over nutrition which led to the recommendation that nutrition education need to focus on proper utilization of food so as to maximize the nutrient in the foods that have higher nutritive value and are prepared in the correct manner to improve bioavailability.