Comparing dietary macronutrient composition and food sources between native and diasporic Ghanaian adults

Figures & data

Table 1 Socio-demographic characteristics of Ghanaian participants residing in Ghana and the United Kingdom

	Ghana			UK
n	Men 16	Women 10	Combined 26	Men 29	Women 28	Combined 57	p
Age (years)
Mean	39.9	36.8	38.6	41.9	40.6	41.3	0.305^a
SD	7.3	9.9	8.4	10.5	11.0	11.5
Length of residence in the UK (years)
Median	–	–		11.0	11.5	11.0	0.962^b
IQR	–	–		8.0–24.0	7.25–21.5	8.0–23.2
Age at migration (years)
Mean	–	–		27.4	26.1	26.7	0.547^a
SD	–	–		7.5	8.59	8.0
Weight (kg)
Median	76.5	69.5	71.5	79.9	72.8	76.2	0.602^c
IQR	69.3–83.25	69.5–80.5	66.3–81.0	66.5–84.7	67.65–80.25	67.2–84.4
BMI (kg/m^2)
Median	27.7	25.7	27.4	27.8	26.4	26.7	0.545^c
IQR	26.4–29.5	23.4–27.9	23.8–29.0	23.9–29.1	24.3–29.5	24.2–29.2
Employment status (%)
Employed	69	60	65	69	89	79	0.410^d
Unemployed	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.141^d
Not stated	25	20	23	0	0	0
Student	6	20	12	17	7	12	0.510^d

^aIndependent t-test (two-tailed) compared mean age between the two cohorts and mean age at migration between men and women within the London cohort. ^bMann–Whitney U test compared median length of UK residence within the London cohort. ^cMann–Whitney U test compared median weight and BMI between mixed-gender Accra and London Cohorts. ^dChi-squared test compared differences in employment status between mixed-gender Accra and London Cohorts.

Table 2 The contribution of energy, protein, carbohydrate, fat, saturated fat, and non-starch polysaccharide (NSP) to daily intake and, the contribution of traditional Ghanaian foods to the intake of these nutrients by location of residency

	Ghana (n=26)				UK (n=57)
	Daily intake		% contribution to intake by traditional Ghanaian foods		Daily intake		% contribution to intake by traditional Ghanaian foods
	Mean	SD	Median	IQR	Mean	SD	Median	IQR	p ^a	p ^b
Energy (kcal/day)	2,460	779	96.5	94.8–97.6	1,853	548	69.5	55.7–80.5	<0.001^c	<0.001
Protein (%)	14.1	2.8	98.0	96.4–95.9	16.9	3.9	79.8	65.0–86.3	0.001^c	<0.001
Carbohydrate (%)	61.5	9.3	96.2	93.2–98.6	52.2	7.7	69.2	52.4–77.0	<0.001	<0.001
Fat (%)	24.4	8.5	96.2	91.1–100	29.9	7.9	71.6	58.3–84.9	0.005	<0.001
Saturated fat (%)	5.8	3.7	93.3	84.3–100	8.5	3.4	65.4	54.2–82.2	<0.001^c	<0.001
NSP (g per 1,000 kcal)	6.7	2.2	100.0	96.7–100	8.3	3.1	59.8	49.5–80.0	0.007	<0.001

SD, standard deviation; IQR, interquartile range; NSP, non-starch polysaccharides values based on Englyst measurement procedure; TEI, total energy intake. Macronutrient intakes expressed as percentage (%) of total energy intake.

^aDifferences in nutrient intakes between Ghana and UK groups, tested using independent samples t-test. ^bDifferences in contribution of traditional foods between Ghana and UK groups, tested using Mann–Whitney U tests to compare median values. ^cData transformed by square root to enable comparison of the means by independent samples t-test.

Table 3 Top 10 foods contributing to total energy, protein, and carbohydrate intake (represented as % of intake), by location of residency

	Energy intake				Protein intake				Carbohydrate intake
	Ghana		UK		Ghana		UK		Ghana		UK
Rank	Food items	%	Food items	%	Food items	%	Food items	%	Food items	%	Food items	%
1	Fufu	16	Soups and stews	15	Fish	23	Soups and stews	23	Fufu	26	White rice	12
2	Soups and stews	14	White rice	7	Soups and stews	23	Fish	12	Kenkey	16	Fufu	11
3	Kenkey	12	Fufu	6	Kenkey	10	Poultry	11	Banku	7	Kenkey	7
4	Banku	5	Confectionery	5	Red meat (unprocessed)	8	Red meat (unprocessed)	6	White rice	6	Confectionery	7
5	Plantain	5	Kenkey	5	White bread	4	Eggs	4	Plantain	6	Breakfast cereal	5
6	White rice	4	Fish	4	Rice and beans/waakye	4	Milk	4	Yam	6	Fruit	5
7	Fish	4	Poultry	3	White rice	3	Processed meat	4	White bread	5	White bread	5
8	White bread	4	Wholemeal bread	3	Starchy porridges	2	White rice	3	Starchy porridges	5	Wholemeal bread	5
9	Starchy porridges	4	Breakfast cereal	3	Cow hide	2	Kenkey	3	Rice and beans/waakye	4	Soups and stews	5
10	Yam	4	White bread	3	Poultry	2	White bread	2	Fruit	4	Yam	5
Total		72		54		81		72		85		67

Table 4 Top 10 foods contributing to fat, saturated fat, and non-starch polysaccharide intake (represented as % of intake), by location of residency

	Total fat intake				Saturated fat intake				Non-starch polysaccharide intake
	Ghana		UK		Ghana		UK		Ghana		UK
Rank	Food items	%	Food items	%	Food items	%	Food items	%	Food items	%	Food items	%
1	Soups and stews	35	Soups and stews	27	Soups and stews	35	Soups and stews	27	Soups and stews	33	Soups and stews	24
2	Shito	7	Jollof rice	6	Coconut	10	Confectionery	8	Fruit	10	Wholemeal bread	9
3	Red meat (unprocessed)	6	Confectionery	5	Red meat (unprocessed)	10	Milk	8	Fufu	8	Fruit	9
4	Plantain	5	Eggs	5	Confectionery	5	Dairy (exc. milk)	6	White bread	7	Vegetables	8
5	Fish	5	Poultry	5	Cow hide	5	Eggs	6	Plantain	7	Breakfast cereal	8
6	Kenkey	5	Peanuts	5	Milk	4	Evaporated milk	5	Yam	6	Fufu	8
7	Cow hide	4	Fish	4	Dairy (exc. milk)	4	Processed meat	5	Vegetables	5	Potato and products	4
8	Peanuts	3	Processed meat	4	Fish	3	Red meat (unprocessed)	4	Shito	4	Yam	4
9	Coconut	3	Milk	4	Starchy porridges	3	Poultry	4	Rice and beans/waakye	4	White bread	3
10	Confectionery	3	Dairy (exc. Milk)	3	Peanuts Eggs	3	Fish	3	Coconut	4	Starchy porridges	3
Total		76		68		82		76		88		80

Soups and stews: traditional method of ‘one-pot’ cooking using a vegetable base (typically tomato, onion and pepper) with peanuts/meat/fish added. Waakye: rice cooked with bitter leaves. Fufu: starchy boiled dumpling made with cassava, yam, or plantain. Kenkey: starchy steamed dumpling made from fermented and unfermented corn. Shito: condiment added to meat or fish. Banku: starchy dumpling made with fermented corn. Confectionery: cakes, chocolate bars, sugar-sweetened beverages, biscuits, boiled sweets, jellies, and preserves.