Study on the dietary pattern assessed with semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire among rural Tibetan women with children younger than 2 years in Lhasa city / 中华流行病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the dietary pattern of rural Tibetan women with children under 2 years of age.Methods A cross-sectional survey on dietary pattern together with a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire was conducted among Tibetan women in rural Lhasa in 2008.Results 386 women were investigated with the average age as 28.5 years old and average schooling-years as 4.6.For each member in the woman's family,daily intake of vegetable oil was 25.9 g on average.Daily intake of butter,sugar and salt were 27.8 g,12.9 g and 14.8 g respectively,which were higher than figures from national nutrition and health survey (P＜0.01).Among 91 kinds of food under investigation,only 22 kinds with the frequencies of consumption more than 1 time per day.Three main factors were derived by factor analysis.The first factor represented vegetable pattern characterized with vegetables,grains,fruits and a few animal foods.It was a dominant pattern for the subjects,which explained nearly 10% variance.The second one was Tibetan style pattern in which Tibetan foods and a few vegetables were consumed.The last one called meats and milk products pattern also reflected the Tibetan dietary style.Daily intake of energy for women was 2097.02 kcal which met 91.2% of Chinese recommended nutrients intake (RNI).Daily intake of protein and fat reached 82% of RNI and vitamin A but only 34.7% on RNI.Daily intake of calcium,iron and zinc reached 64.6%,174.1% and 150.7% of RNI,receptively.Grains provided 65% of energy but only 7.4% of the energy and 15.5% of protein were from animal foods."Tsampa" provided 57.6% of iron.Conclusion Vegetable pattern had been the dominant dietary pattern among Tibetan women in rural Lhasa.Intake of energy,protein and some micronutrients were not sufficient.