Inventory on the dietary assessment tools available and needed in africa: a prerequisite for setting up a common methodological research infrastructure for nutritional surveillance, research, and prevention of diet-related non-communicable diseases.

OBJECTIVE: To carry out an inventory on the availability, challenges, and needs of dietary assessment (DA) methods in Africa as a pre-requisite to provide evidence, and set directions (strategies) for implementing common dietary methods and support web-research infrastructure across countries. METHODS: The inventory was performed within the framework of the "Africa's Study on Physical Activity and Dietary Assessment Methods" (AS-PADAM) project. It involves international institutional and African networks. An inventory questionnaire was developed and disseminated through the networks. Eighteen countries responded to the dietary inventory questionnaire. RESULTS: Various DA tools were reported in Africa; 24-Hour Dietary Recall and Food Frequency Questionnaire were the most commonly used tools. Few tools were validated and tested for reliability. Face-to-face interview was the common method of administration. No computerized software or other new (web) technologies were reported. No tools were standardized across countries. CONCLUSIONS: The lack of comparable DA methods across represented countries is a major obstacle to implement comprehensive and joint nutrition-related programmes for surveillance, programme evaluation, research, and prevention. There is a need to develop new or adapt existing DA methods across countries by employing related research infrastructure that has been validated and standardized in other settings, with the view to standardizing methods for wider use.

The relationship between iron status and adiposity in women from developing countries: a review.

Scientific reports have shown that iron deficiency is positively associated with adiposity. With the high prevalence of iron deficiency and obesity in developing countries and women being particularly affected, this review was carried out with the aim of elucidating the link between iron status and adiposity in women from developing countries and to examine factors influencing this relationship. An extensive literature search was conducted using several search engines. A systematic approach with prespecified inclusion criteria was used in selecting relevant literature. Eight studies that met the inclusion criteria were selected for review. The relationship between iron status indices and adiposity in women in developing countries varied widely. While some studies observed negative relationships, some reported positive relationships, and others no significant relationships. Furthermore, other factors such as infection, alcohol consumption, type of diet, and genes were shown to affect the relationship between iron status and adiposity in women in developing countries. In conclusion, the possibility of iron status playing a role in adiposity in women from developing countries is likely, and it may be influenced by several other factors as described in the results. Thus, it is recommended that a special research effort should be directed toward this area.

Iron status and cardiovascular disease risk in black South African women: the PURE study

Objective: To examine the associations between measures of iron status and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in South African women.Method: In a cross-sectional study; demographic information and health history were obtained during individual interviews using validated questionnaires in the North West Province; South Africa. Anthropometric indices; iron indices; blood pressure; blood glucose and lipid profiles were measured using standard procedures in 1 262 apparently healthy black South African women aged 35 years or older. Iron status was assessed using serum concentrations of ferritin; transferrin receptor (TfR) and TfR:ferritin ratio.Results: Associations between iron status parameters and CVD risk factors were generally weak (r 0.3; p 0.01) and were not retained when adjustment was made for age; body mass index; smoking; alcohol consumption and C-reactive protein in the analysis. Waist circumference (WC) and waist:hip ratio (WHR) were higher in the fourth quartile of serum ferritin than in the third quartile; and also in the third quartile compared to the second quartile (P 0.05). Based on WC and WHR respectively; 31 and 52of the women had excess abdominal obesity. The mean (95 confidence interval) serum TfR concentration was high; at 9.09 ?g/ml (8.77; 9.44); indicating risk of iron deficiency. The mean (95 confidence interval) concentrations of lipids [total cholesterol 4.78 mmol/l (4.64; 4.93); high-density lipoprotein cholesterol 1.45 mmol/l (1.39; 1.52); low-density lipoprotein cholesterol 1.65 mmol/l (1.53; 1.78); triglyceride 1.12 mmol/l (1.07; 1.18)] were within reference ranges.Conclusion: No significant association was found between iron status parameters and established CVD risk factors. However; excessive abdominal adiposity indicated by high WC and WHR contributes significantly to increased serum ferritin concentration in this population