We are working with tribal women on health and nutrition for some years now, using participatory learning and action as our main strategy. Many women are severely underweight with BMIs even lower than 16. Anecdotally, some of them improve and some dont, given that there are no specific inputs of food or finance.
I was looking for evidence on what has been tried in similar contexts and what is known to 'work'.
From the Mayo clinic you can read the following tips. What's a good way to gain weight if you're underweight? Answers from Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.
Dear Dr. Vandana,
In my experience as clinical R.D., very low BMI individuals only improve with a progressive, and continuous, increase in caloric content of the diet (e.g. 10% increase in Kcal/day per week), even if it's "empty calories" such as flour from root vegetables (starch-rich) and animal fat. I don't know how hard it is to obtain food in your studied population, though.
Sincerely,
Hércules Freitas
looking for studies and papers, friends, for a public health programme.
Dear colleague,
I believe these works may help you:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3896628/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11726/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1180662/
http://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h4173
http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2006/TheDualBurdenofOverweightandUnderweightinDevelopingCountries.aspx
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK304206/
Sincerely,
Hércules Freitas
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