Studying a Population Undergoing Nutrition Transition: A Practical Case Study of Dietary Assessment in Urban South African Adolescents

Abstract

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.

KEYWORDS:

• dietary assessment
• adolescents
• food frequency questionnaire
• nutrition transition

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

BT20 is funded by the Wellcome Trust (UK), the Human Science Research Council of South Africa, the Medical Research Council (MRC) of South Africa, and University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and the Anglo-American Chairman's Fund. For information on Bt20, visit www.wits.ac.za/birthto20.

The dietary intake study was financially supported by Loughborough University, Parkes Foundation and John Guest Travelling Scholarship. Paula Griffiths' contribution to the work is funded by the MRC, UK (grant id 70363). Shane Norris is supported by a Wellcome Trust Research Fellowship. The authors would like to extend their gratitude to the BT20 and Loughborough University research teams for their co-operation. Thanks to the adolescents and their caregivers for their participation.

Notes

¹ Apartheid is an Afrikaans word (South African language derived from Dutch) meaning apartness or separation. Apartheid was a national government policy introduced by the National Party after their 1948 parliamentary election victory that encouraged separate development of different population groups. Several laws were put in place to enforce this racial segregation (Lapping, 1989; Seidman, 1980).