Vol-7 Issue-4 2021 IJARIIE-ISSN(O)-2395-4396 15164 www.ijariie.com 1817 HEALTH AND NUTRITIONAL STATUS AMONG THE CHRONIC AND OCCASIONAL RICE BEER DRINKERS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY. Harendra Nath Singh, 1 Dr. Santanu Panda 2 1 Forensic Science Laboratory, Kolkata, West Bengal (India) 2 Dept. of Anthropology, Sukumar Sengupta Mahavidyalay, West Bengal (India) ABSTRACT: Many indigenous communities like Santal, Munda, Bhumij, Lodha, Sabar, etc. more than 11 types of major Scheduled Tribe communities residing in the different districts in West Bengal. More than half of the total Scheduled Tribe population of the state is connected in Paschim Medinipur, Purba Medinipur, Jalpaiguri, Purulia, and Bardhaman districts. Of the remaining districts, Bankura, Jhargram, Uttar Dinajpur, and Dakshin Dinajpur have a sizable Scheduled Tribe population and having their unique ethno-socio-cultural lifestyle with making rice beer brewing techniques using wild herbs and local rice varieties popularly known as Handia or Hariya. Fermented drinks are generally connected with the culture and existence of ethnic tribes throughout the world. Traditional rice beer of West Bengal in India is an indispensable part of tribal lifestyle attached cultural and religiously with them. The present study is focused on a comparative study of the health and nutritional status among the chronic and occasional rice beer drinkers population on the basis of calculating their different types of anthropometric measurements and blood pressure. Keywords: Anthropometric measurements, Rice Beer, Health and Nutrition, Scheduled Tribe. ____________________________________________________________ 1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION. Health and nutrition are important elements in the development process. Adequate nutrition enhances physical health, thereby improves immune systems and reproductive health fitness. Both nutrition and health increase life expectancy, which is known to be important for development[1]. Although primarily health is a function of nutritional status, other factors like availability, quality and cost of health care services, living standards, sanitary conditions, quality of drinking water, and economic condition are also important [2]. With the significant development in treatments and medical services, people have become highly aware and cautious about their health and fitness. In tribal societies, the concept of health, fitness, and diseases varies between different tribal groups[3]. In a tribal habitat, a person is usually considered to be afflicted with some diseases if he/she is incapable of doing the routine work, i.e., incapacitation from work is the universal index of poor health. Thus the concept of ill health becomes a functional one and not clinical. Reproductive health is also very poor among most tribal communities. Health problems prevalent in tribal areas include endemic infectious diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, and diarrheal diseases, apart from malnutrition and anemia. What is worrying is that the prevalence of chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes mellitus, hitherto rare in these populations, is rising, and stroke and heart disease are now the leading causes of death[4].. Since the beginning of human civilization, fermented foods have occupied an integral part in the culture and traditions of many ethnic communities throughout the world. Fermented food is very significant to the human diet especially the tribal community viz. Santal, Munda, Lodha as well as in developing countries as it is an inexpensive technique used by world communities across the globe for food preservation along with enhancement of nutritional and sensory values of food [5,6].Fermentation is brought about by microorganisms that transform the raw materials into biochemically and organoleptically useful products with harmful products like phytates, tannins, and polyphenols beings destroyed or detoxified. Most of the tribal community spend their life in the forest and consumed Haria with local alcohol (Mahua). The tribal beliefs that haria is a very energetic food for daily activities as day labor. Fermentation is a process in which food is exposed to bacteria and yeasts, either via