Women need 30 percent more energy than men

A recent nutrition study conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Cote d'Ivoire found that women need 30 percent more energy than their male counterparts, the agency said in a statement last week. The study which FAO said could serve as a model for researching specific nutrition needs in other parts of the developing world noted that women work two to three hours longer than men. The work practices of some 3,352 women and men in agricultural communities were compared, it said.

The researchers observed the practices of 1,787 women and 1,565 men over a seven-day period in the Northern Savane, West and East Forest regions of Cote d'Ivoire. Covering a full range of agricultural activities, the research determined how work energy was distributed in this population during a part of the agricultural year, FAO said. The study found out that women performed all the domestic tasks as well as working in agriculture while men worked only in agriculture.

"With research such as this, we hope to have a better understanding of the nutrition needs of people in specific regions of the world, paving the way to alter economic and nutritional support," a senior nutrition officer, Barbara Burlingame, said. FAO conducted the study in collaboration with the Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic.