Every Bangladeshi woman deserves education on nutrition

Women in this country make an extraordinary amount of sacrifice. They manage households, raise children, hold down careers, care for ageing parents, and somehow still show up the next morning and do it all again. What consistently and quietly gets lost in all of this is their own health.

On this International Women's Day (March 08), the most radical thing a woman can do is make herself a priority. Women can support others only by ensuring their own good health.

The body keeps sending signals— we keep ignoring them: Most women do not experience a dramatic health collapse. What they experience is a slow accumulation of things that feel manageable: fatigue that never quite lifts, hair that is thinning slightly more than it used to, periods that have become unpredictable, skin that looks more tired than it should at thirty-five. Each symptom on its own seems explainable. Together, they are the body waving its hand.

These are not signs of getting older in the inevitable, untreatable sense. They are often signs of hormonal imbalance, nutritional deficiency, chronic stress load, or all three at once. And they are far more common among Bangladeshi women than most health conversations acknowledge.

Iron deficiency anaemia affects an estimated 40 per cent of women of reproductive age in Bangladesh. It does not always announce itself dramatically. It shows up as breathlessness on the stairs you have climbed a hundred times, as a foggy feeling mid-afternoon, as exhaustion that sleep does not fix. Thyroid dysfunction, particularly hypothyroidism, is another condition that disproportionately affects women and frequently goes undiagnosed for years because its symptoms, including weight gain, low mood, hair loss, and fatigue, are so easily dismissed as stress or simply "being tired."

If you recognise yourself in any of this, the answer is not to push through. The answer is a blood panel. A simple set of tests covering haemoglobin, thyroid function, vitamin D, vitamin B12, and fasting blood sugar takes less than an hour and can explain years of unexplained symptoms.

What hormones are actually doing to your health: Hormones are not just a reproductive matter. They are the operating system of the female body, governing energy, mood, metabolism, bone density, cardiovascular health, and cognitive function. When they are in balance, women feel well. When they are not, the effects ripple into every area of life.

The reproductive years bring their own hormonal landscape. Oestrogen and progesterone fluctuate across the menstrual cycle, and for women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which is estimated to affect one in five women in South Asia, these fluctuations can be severe. PCOS is frequently underdiagnosed in Bangladesh, partly because irregular periods are so often normalised and partly because the conversation around women's reproductive health remains limited in many communities.

Tell-tale signs of PCOS include irregular or absent periods, unexplained weight gain particularly around the abdomen, persistent acne in adulthood, excess facial hair, and difficulty conceiving. It is a manageable condition with the right clinical support, and nutrition plays a central role in that management. Diets lower in refined carbohydrates and higher in fibre, protein, and anti-inflammatory foods can meaningfully improve hormonal regulation.

Then there is perimenopause, which can begin as early as the late thirties and which most Bangladeshi women are simply not warned about. Hot flushes, disrupted sleep, mood swings, brain fog, and joint pain are not random inconveniences of middle age. They are hormonal transitions that deserve proper attention and, where appropriate, medical support.

The nutritional gaps most women are not aware of: The traditional Bangladeshi diet is genuinely rich in many of the nutrients women need. Dal provides folate and plant-based protein. Fish, particularly hilsa and small dried fish, delivers omega-3 fatty acids and calcium. Leafy vegetables like shak and spinach offer iron and magnesium. The problem is not the food itself. The problem is who is eating it.

In many households, women serve their husbands and children first and eat what is left. They skip breakfast because they are busy making everyone else's. They eat standing up at the kitchen counter. They accept smaller portions as a matter of course. This is not just a cultural habit. It is a health risk that compounds silently over decades.

Iron is one of the most critical deficiencies to address. Cooking in cast iron vessels, once common in Bangladeshi kitchens, can meaningfully increase the iron content of food. Vitamin C, found in amaloki, guava, and tomatoes, significantly enhances iron absorption when eaten alongside iron-rich foods. Calcium intake also deserves attention, particularly as women move towards their forties when bone density begins to decline.

Vitamin D deficiency is widespread among Bangladeshi women and is rarely discussed. Despite Bangladesh's year-round sunshine, conservative clothing and limited outdoor time mean that many women are not synthesising adequate vitamin D, which is essential for bone health, immune function, and mood regulation. A simple blood test can confirm whether supplementation is needed.

Ageing well is something you prepare for in your thirties and forties: The conversations women are rarely invited into are the ones about what happens to their bodies after fifty. Osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline, and metabolic changes after menopause are not distant concerns. They are outcomes being shaped right now, by the food choices, stress levels, and sleep patterns of women in their thirties and forties today.

Bone density reaches its peak in the late twenties and begins a slow decline thereafter, with the rate accelerating significantly after menopause. Calcium and vitamin D are the most widely known protective factors, but weight-bearing physical activity matters just as much. Walking, climbing stairs, and resistance exercises are investments in the skeleton that pay dividends thirty years later.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in women globally, and yet it remains under-discussed in women's health spaces because heart disease has historically been framed as a men's condition. Oestrogen offers women some cardiovascular protection during the reproductive years, but once menopause arrives, that protection diminishes. A diet built around whole grains, oily fish, legumes, vegetables, and healthy fats, and one that limits ultra-processed food and refined sugar, is protective against cardiovascular disease at every age.

Small acts of nutritional self-respect: This does not require an expensive supplement regimen or a complicated meal plan. It requires a shift in the belief that your health is a lower priority than everyone else's.

Eat breakfast before you feed anyone else. Drink water consistently across the day rather than only when thirsty, which is already a sign of mild dehydration. Get a blood test this year, and actually follow up on the results. Eat your dal and shak with a squeeze of lemon over them for better iron absorption. Choose whole grain rice where possible. Stop skipping lunch because the afternoon is full.

These are not dramatic interventions. They are acts of self-respect, repeated daily, that accumulate into genuinely better health over years and decades.

A final word for International Women's Day: The women reading this are, in all likelihood, already doing a great deal for the people around them. on this International Women's Day, the invitation is to extend some of that same care inward.

Your body has been trying to talk to you. The fatigue, the irregular cycles, the hair in the shower drain, the low mood that no amount of rest seems to fix. These are not things to push through. They are things to investigate, address, and take seriously. Because you cannot pour from an empty vessel, and because you deserve to be well not merely for the sake of your family, but for your own.

You are not a footnote in your family's health story. You are the main character. Start eating like it.

anikajabeen1998@gmail.com