Abstract:
The study developed and validated photographic food atlas using domestic measures (DOM-M) such as serving spoons of edible portions of foods that would supply a specific amount of carbohydrate (carbohydrate servings) and energy. The objectives of the study were to: (1) identify commonly consumed locally available foods by adult diabetic patients seeking the
services of Dietitian-Nutritionists in Out-patient department of selected hospitals in Enugu State; (2) determine the proximate (protein, fat, carbohydrates, fibre and ash) composition of the selected foods; (3) develop photographic food atlas with portion sizes of domestic measures and
carbohydrate servings (10g, 15g, 20g, 30g and 45g of carbohydrates) of the selected foods and (4) validate the photographic food atlas with portion sizes of domestic measures and carbohydrate servings (10g, 15g, 20g, 30g and 45g of carbohydrates) of selected foods. A cross sectional survey design was used to sample diabetic patients seeking the services of Dietitian
Nutritionist in Out-patient department of selected hospitals in Enugu state to identify the commonly consumed foods. Twenty three (23) foods were purposively selected from foods with higher frequency (≥20 points) among commonly consumed foods and analyzed for their proximate (moisture, protein, carbohydrates, ash, fat and crude fibre) composition using standard
methods. The energy content was calculated using Atwater factors for the energy giving food nutrients (carbohydrate [4kcal/g], protein [4kcal/g] and fat [9kcal/g]). Standardized photographs of different portion sizes of the selected foods that will supply 10g, 15g, 20g, 30g, 45g of carbohydrates and photographs of different sizes of domestic measures were captured and their
weights recorded. The photographs were formatted in an A4 size paper. Each page contained 3 to 8 photographs. The photographs were validated by out-patient diabetic patients attending selected hospitals. Data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, percentages, Chi square and student t-test. Statistical significance level was accepted at p<0.05. Rice dishes (rice + stew
and jollof) was the most frequently consumed food among the patients while macaroni+rice and macaroni were the least commonly consumed. The energy and proximate composition showed that among the banana varieties, red decca had the highest (19.5g/100g) carbohydrate content and green mutant had the lowest (12.3g/100g). Energy was highest (125kcal/100g) in green
mutant and least (95kcal/100g) in gross Michel banana variety. The carbohydrate in pineapple, green apple, red apple, pawpaw and watermelon were 18.75g/100g, 16.84g/100g, 15.18g/100g, 13.75g/100g and 4.51g/100g respectively. Local dishes with highest fat were achicha (27.2g/100g), ayaraya-ji (11.8g/100g), ayaraya-oka (16.0g/100g), abacha (4.4g/100g), okpa
(10.8g/100g) and igbangwu-oka (13.7g/100g). The carbohydrates in them ranges from 5.0g/100g in Igbangwu-oka to 32.1g/100g in okpa. The rice dishes had carbohydrates ranging from 13.2g/100g in fried rice prepared with long grain (foreign) rice to 27.9g/100g prepared with basmati rice. The photographic food atlas developed contained 232 photographs from 23 food
samples. The mean weights of the different edible food portions that will supply specific amount of carbohydrate and energy were recorded. The validation result showed that 50.1% scored 50% and above while 33.3% scored <40%. This study developed and validated a veritable visual aid
for portion size estimation foods.
