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Children are vulnerable to developing iron deficiency anemia, especially in resource-limited settings. Information on habitual dietary intake informs dietary interventions aimed at improving iron deficiency. Dietary assessment in school-aged children is challenging and requires concerted efforts to mitigate the pitfalls of long complex methods. Nested within an intervention trial, we aimed to obtain dietary intake information to assess iron nutrition in 8 to 13-year-old children from resource-limited settings in Cape Town, South Africa. Following careful consideration of the study objective, participant characteristics, research setting, available resources, and features of the different dietary intake assessment methods, we identified an iron quantified food frequency questionnaire (QFFQ) as the best method to obtain the information. The QFFQ reflected the study population's habitual intake and the nutrients of interest (protein, iron, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, zinc, and fiber). In addition, strategies such as interview-administration of the QFFQ, interviewing the child participant and caregiver together, simplifying frequency reporting, a strategic food list order and a variety of interesting portion size estimation aids collectively supported dietary intake assessment in this young study population. Using a methodical, multiphase approach and strategies that promote participant engagement, we developed the QFFQ, achieved interview success, and obtained comparable data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food preferences of the elderly people have changed to softer and more easily digested foods, with an increase in carbohydrate foods and a decrease in protein and fat. Food preferences and food choices of the population of the elderly are further linked with attitudinal, social and probably the most important economic variables such as income. The purpose of the study was to describe the food preferences of elderly people aged 60 years and above who reside in Mohodi Ga Manthata village in Limpopo Province. A cross-sectional study was carried out through individual interviews to describe the food preferences of elderly people. All households with elderly people who agreed to participate were included in the study. A total of 119 participants was selected in two sections of Mohodi Ga Manthata village. The most preferred foods were fruits and vegetables, protein foods, porridge and bread. Eating alone, medication and health status influenced the food preferences and the appetite of the participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of this study was to describe the current macro- and micronutrient intake of children (both boys and girls) in two selected communities in the Breede Valley, Worcester. Design: This was a quantitative cross-sectional study. Setting: The study focused on two disadvantaged communities in Worcester (Avian Park and Zweletemba) in the Breede Valley, Western Cape province. Subjects: The study subjects were 248 children (Avian Park, n = 117; Zweletemba, n = 131) aged 12-36 months. Method: The macro-and micronutrient intake of the children was determined using a validated, interviewer-administered quantitative food frequency questionaire, and compared against the estimated average requirement (EAR) and adequate intake (AI) of nutrients. The nutrient adequacy ratio was calculated, as well as percentage deviation from the EAR and AI. Results: More than 20% of the children had a calcium and folate intake that deviated by more than 50% below the EAR in both communities and for both genders. More participants in Zweletemba had an intake that deviated by more than 50% above the EAR and AI, compared to Avian Park, for carbohydrate, thiamine, niacin and iron. Conclusion: With the exception of folate, calcium and selenium, the average reported nutrient intake of the children (boys and girls) in both the communities was adequate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of the present study was to develop (phase 1) and validate (phase 2) a screening questionnaire to assess the adequacy of micronutrient intake of economically active South African adults. Design: For identification of indicator foods to be included in the screening questionnaire (phase 1), a comprehensive, eighty-six-item, quantified FFQ that reflected the food sources of thirteen selected micronutrients associated with the nutrition-related health status of South Africans was developed and completed by 554 adults of all four major ethnic groups. Resulting dietary data were subjected to stepwise regression analyses to identify indicator foods to be included in the final screening questionnaire. For validation of frequency of intake reporting of specific food items included in the screening questionnaire (phase 2), a sample of sixty-six African and eighty-four white adult volunteers of both genders completed a 7 d record as well as the screening questionnaire. The frequency of intake of specific food items derived from the two methods was then compared using Spearman correlation coefficients. Results: Phase 1 identified thirty indicator foods that formed the basis of the screening questionnaire. In phase 2, significant correlations were found for the total group for twenty-two out of the thirty items in the questionnaire, with correlations being the best for white females and the poorest for African males and females. Conclusions: A screening questionnaire (thirty-item FFQ) that can be used by researchers and health professionals to assess an individual's risk of inadequate micronutrient intake was developed and validated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South African Medical Research Council food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and protocol was used to determine food intake in 83 adolescents from the Birth To Twenty study. The FFQ was piloted on a small group (n = 8). Specific problems which resulted in overestimation of energy intake were identified. The protocol was modified and administered to the remainder of the adolescents and their caregivers. Reasonable energy intakes were obtained, and time spent completing the FFQ was reduced. The modified protocol was more successful in determining habitual food intake although it would benefit from validation against other dietary intake techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There are large differences in the prevalence of atopic disease between urban and rural areas of developing countries, without good explanation. Diet has been associated with atopic disease, but studies of specific nutrients are contradictory, cross-sectional studies often being unsupported by trials. We investigated diet as an explanation for the difference in the prevalence of atopy between urban and rural areas in South Africa. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of food frequency questionnaires and allergen skin tests from 698 children aged 8–13 years, recruited from 24 schools in Cape Province, South Africa, who were taking part in a case–control study of exercise-induced bronchospasm. Food frequency data were analysed with a principal components analysis (PCA). Results: The first two principal components of diet explained 25% of the variance, and discriminated almost perfectly between urban and rural subjects. The ‘urban’ component of diet was strongly associated with positive skin tests even after adjusting for urban residence. There were no significant associations between individual foods or nutrients and positive skin tests, allowing for multiple testing. Conclusions: Diet explains part of the difference in prevalence between urban and rural areas. The ability to demonstrate this using PCA, but not by exhaustive analysis of all foods, reflects the value of reducing the number of dietary dimensions. The number of foods and nutrients which can be assessed, and the possibility of confounding and effect modification, make it difficult to identify the features of diet most directly implicated in disease. This may explain inconsistencies in dietary studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Maternal dietary habits during pregnancy are considered essential for development and growth of the fetus as well as maternal health. It has an effect on the birthweight of infants. However, little is known about the effect of dietary patterns on birthweight in urban South Africa. This study aimed to investigate differential effect of dietary patterns of pregnant women on quantiles of birthweight., Methods: Data for the study were obtained from a Mother and Child in the Environment birth cohort study in Durban South Africa. Quantile regression was used to investigate the effect of maternal dietary patterns on quantiles of birthweight. Data collection was conducted during the period of 2013 to 2017 in Durban South Africa. Using factor analysis, eight dietary groups were identified from 687 pregnant women in the cohort. Quantile regression analysis was employed to identify the differential effects of the seven dietary groups and demographic factors on the birthweight., Results: The quantile regression estimates at the 50 th quantile and the ordinary regression estimates painted the same picture about the conditional mean effect of covariates on the birthweight. But unlike the quantile regression the ordinary regression fails to give insights about the covariates effect disparities at the low and/or upper birthweight quantiles. All the dietary groups show a significant differential effect at different birthweight quantiles. For instance, increased frequency of protein rich foods intake was associated with reduction in birthweight at lower and upper quantiles; increased frequency of junk foods intake has a slight increase in birthweight at the lower quantiles but significantly higher increase at the 95 th quantile (p < 0.001); increase in consuming vegetable rich foods, reduced birthweight at 95 th quantile (p < 0.001). The results further showed that employment (p = 0.006) and family size (p = 0.002) had differential effects across different birthweight quantiles., Conclusions: Both maternal undernutrition and overnutrition of protein rich foods, junk foods, snack and energy foods and vegetable rich foods have shown a substantial varying effects on those infants with birthweights in the lower and upper birthweight quantiles.

Background: Although animal and human studies have demonstrated interactions between dietary choline and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, dietary choline deficiency in pregnancy is common in the US and worldwide. We sought to develop and validate a quantitative food frequency questionnaire (QFFQ) to estimate usual daily choline intake in pregnant mothers., Methods: A panel of nutrition experts developed a Choline-QFFQ food item list, including sources with high choline content and the most commonly consumed choline-containing foods in the target population. A data base for choline content of each item was compiled. For reliability and validity testing in a prospective longitudinal cohort, 123 heavy drinking Cape Coloured pregnant women and 83 abstaining/light-drinking controls were recruited at their first antenatal clinic visit. At 3 prenatal study visits, each gravida was interviewed about alcohol, smoking, and drug use, and administered a 24-hour recall interview and the Choline-QFFQ., Results: Across all visits and assessments, > 78% of heavy drinkers and controls reported choline intake below the Dietary Reference Intakes adequate intake level (450 mg/day). Women reported a decrease in choline intake over time on the QFFQ. Reliability of the QFFQ across visits was good-to-acceptable for 2 of 4 group-level tests and 4 of 5 individual-level tests for both drinkers and controls. When compared with 24-hr recall data, validity of the QFFQ was good-to-acceptable for 3 of 4 individual-level tests and 3 of 5 group-level tests. For controls, validity was good-to-acceptable for all 4 individual-level tests and all 5 group-level tests., Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first quantitative choline food frequency screening questionnaire to be developed and validated for use with both heavy and non-drinking pregnant women and the first to be used in the Cape Coloured community in South Africa. Given the high prevalence of inadequate choline intake and the growing evidence that maternal choline supplementation can mitigate some of the adverse effects of prenatal alcohol exposure, this tool may be useful for both research and future clinical outreach programs.