TY - JOUR
T1 - Food Composition Tables in Southeast Asia
T2 - The Contribution of the SMILING Project
AU - Hulshof, Paul
AU - Doets, Esmee
AU - Seyha, Sok
AU - Bunthang, Touch
AU - Vonglokham, Manithong
AU - Kounnavong, Sengchanh
AU - Famida, Umi
AU - Muslimatun, Siti
AU - Santika, Otte
AU - Prihatini, Sri
AU - Nazarudin, Nazarina
AU - Jahari, Abas
AU - Rojroongwasinkul, Nipa
AU - Chittchang, Uraiporn
AU - Mai, Le Bach
AU - Dung, Le Hong
AU - Lua, Tran Thi
AU - Nowak, Verena
AU - Elburg, Lucy
AU - Melse-Boonstra, Alida
AU - Brouwer, Inge
PY - 2019/1
Y1 - 2019/1
N2 - Objectives Food composition data are key for many nutrition related activities in research, planning and policy. Combatting micronutrient malnutrition among women and young children using sustainable food based approaches, as aimed at in the SMILING project, requires high quality food composition data. Methods In order to develop capacity and to align procedures for establishing, updating and assessing the quality of key nutrient data in the food composition tables in Southeast Asia, a detailed roadmap was developed to identify and propose steps for this. This included a training workshop to build capacity in the field of food composition data, and alignment of procedures for selecting foods and nutrients to be included for quality assessment, and update of country specific food composition tables. The SEA partners in the SMILING project finalised a country specific food composition table (FCT) with updated compositional data on selected foods and nutrients considered key for designing nutrient dense and optimal diets for the target groups. Results Between 140 and 175 foods were selected for inclusion in the country specific FCTs. Key-nutrients were: energy, protein, total fat, carbohydrates, iron, zinc, (pro-)-vitamin A, folate, calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B3, vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and vitamin C. A detailed quality assessment on 13 key-foods per nutrient was performed using international guidelines. Nutrient data for specific local food items were often unavailable and data on folate, vitamin B12 and vitamin B6 contents were mostly missing. For many foods, documentation was not available, thereby complicating an in-depth quality assessment. Despite these limitations, the SMILING project offered a unique opportunity to increase awareness of the importance of high quality well documented food composition data. Conclusion for Practise The self-reported data quality demonstrated that there is considerable room for improvement of the nutrient data quality in some countries. In addition, investment in sustainable capacity development and an urgent need to produce and document high quality data on the micronutrient composition of especially local foods is required.
AB - Objectives Food composition data are key for many nutrition related activities in research, planning and policy. Combatting micronutrient malnutrition among women and young children using sustainable food based approaches, as aimed at in the SMILING project, requires high quality food composition data. Methods In order to develop capacity and to align procedures for establishing, updating and assessing the quality of key nutrient data in the food composition tables in Southeast Asia, a detailed roadmap was developed to identify and propose steps for this. This included a training workshop to build capacity in the field of food composition data, and alignment of procedures for selecting foods and nutrients to be included for quality assessment, and update of country specific food composition tables. The SEA partners in the SMILING project finalised a country specific food composition table (FCT) with updated compositional data on selected foods and nutrients considered key for designing nutrient dense and optimal diets for the target groups. Results Between 140 and 175 foods were selected for inclusion in the country specific FCTs. Key-nutrients were: energy, protein, total fat, carbohydrates, iron, zinc, (pro-)-vitamin A, folate, calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B3, vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and vitamin C. A detailed quality assessment on 13 key-foods per nutrient was performed using international guidelines. Nutrient data for specific local food items were often unavailable and data on folate, vitamin B12 and vitamin B6 contents were mostly missing. For many foods, documentation was not available, thereby complicating an in-depth quality assessment. Despite these limitations, the SMILING project offered a unique opportunity to increase awareness of the importance of high quality well documented food composition data. Conclusion for Practise The self-reported data quality demonstrated that there is considerable room for improvement of the nutrient data quality in some countries. In addition, investment in sustainable capacity development and an urgent need to produce and document high quality data on the micronutrient composition of especially local foods is required.
KW - Capacity building
KW - Data quality
KW - Food composition
KW - Nutrient data
KW - SMILING project
U2 - 10.1007/s10995-018-2528-8
DO - 10.1007/s10995-018-2528-8
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85048254668
SN - 1092-7875
VL - 23
SP - 46
EP - 54
JO - Maternal and Child Health Journal
JF - Maternal and Child Health Journal
IS - 1
ER -
