1992 Volume 45 Issue 6 Pages 495-506
Work load, food consumption and physiological condition of greenhouse farmers (5 and 10 husbandwife couples growing tomatoes and strawberries respectively) were compared with those of sedentary office workers (9 couples) during 4 periods: harvest (April), post-harvest (July), pre-harvest (November) and 2nd harvest (the following March) in a town near Kumamoto. In the busiest harvest seasons, tomato- and strawberry-growing males worked for more than 700 and 840 min, respectively. However, their daily energy expenditures estimated by 24-h heart rate monitoring were about 2, 800 and 3, 000 kcal, respectively, which seemed not unduly high because of the low energy cost of each harvestrelated activity. Their wives had to perform household chores as well as their work. The farmers consumed more food than their controls, irrespective of season or sex, and energy intake exceeded expenditure except for male farmers in the harvest season. The strawberry-growing males showed a tendency to obtain excess energy and protein throughout the year, and the association of this with higher body fat and weight and blood pressure than in the controls was suspected.
