Consideration of the effect of nutritional status and disease patterns on the work output amongst Black South African workers involved in manual materials handling (MMH) tasks.

Abstract

The prevalence of malnutrition amongst low-income earning South Africans has been well documented and is reported to be particularly high amongst Black South African males. This, combined with poor living conditions associated with their poor socio-economic status, results in an increased prevalence of infectious diseases amongst this sector of the population. Additionally, Black South African males are most often employed by companies requiring them to carry out heavy manual materials handling tasks. It would appear that limited research has focused on the relationship between inadequate dietary intake combined with poor health status and the impact this may have on the performance of manual workers. Energy intake is in all probability considerably less than energy expenditure.