Quality assessment and update of food
composition tables on selected foods and
nutrients for South East Asia
E Doets, P Hulshof, N Rojroongwasinkul, L Dung, U Fahmida, M Vonglokham, K Kuong, L Elburg, I Brouwer, A Melse-Boonstra
13 September 2013, IFDC, Granada
SMILING
Sustainable Micronutrient Interventions to controL deficiencies and Improve Nutritional status and General health in Asia
The SMILING project will produce a new, feasible and sustainable nutrition intervention agenda:
● country-specific
● directed to women of reproductive age and young children <2 y
Rationale
Nutritional deficiencies should preferably be combated with nutritious foods
High quality data on the nutritional composition of foods are essential to design better diets
Food Composition Tables (FCT) are available in South East Asian (SEA) countries, but:
● Quality of the data need to be assessed
● Nutrient data not complete
SMILING challenges
To assess quality of national FC data, with special emphasis on key foods and key macro- & micronutrients;
To develop capacity in SEA to create internationally recognized, high quality FCT;
To provide an updated high quality FCT for each SEA country that includes selected food items and nutrients and anti-nutrients.
Need for priorities and clear roadmap
describing standardized approaches
Partners in South East Asia
Selection of nutrients to be included in
country-specific FCTs
Based on country-specific data regarding prevalence of deficiencies and health related problems:
● Macronutrients: energy, protein, total fat, carbohydrates
● Micronutrients: Iron, zinc, calcium, vit. A, carotenoids, vit. D, vit. C, vit. B1, vit. B2, vit. B3, vit. B6, folate, vit. B12
Selection of foods to be included in
country-specific FCTs
Based on food consumption data from children <2 y and women of reproductive age
Consumed by >5-10% of population or good sources of nutrients of concern
SEA country Number of foods
Laos 140
Cambodia 90
Thailand 142
Vietnam 164
Indonesia 174
Training in Hanoi Vietnam (April, 2012)
Build general capacity in the field of FCTs
Align procedures to select foods for QA & update
Align procedures for data checking and QA of selected foods and nutrients
Guidelines and workplan for QA and update
of national FCTs (Hulshof et al.)
Discussed and practiced with both external
facilitators and workshop participants
consensus document
Steps 1-3 in QA and update
Step 1: Completion of selected foods with nutrient data
● Based on: 1-analytical reports, 2-scientific publications,
3-regional FCTs and 4-non-regional FCTs
Step 2: Data check on nutrient data of selected foods
● INFOODS guidelines: check on food identification, components, documentation
Step 3: Selection of key foods for QA
● based on contribution to nutrient intake (top 10) and nutrient density (top 3)
Step 4: EuroFIR QA procedure
QA based on 7 categories:
1. Food description
2. Component identification
3. Sampling plan
4. No. of analytical samples
5. Sample handling
6. Sample analysis
7. Analytical quality control
Evaluation requires
documentation on
background nutrient values,
however not always
available!
Experiences:
1. Completion of FCT with nutrient data
Main sources used for updates:
● Laboratory data Cambodia (fish); Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia
● FCTs ASEAN, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia
● USDA
Composition data on Vit D, folate, vit B6 & vit B12 are often not available, especially for local foods
Additional guidance: how to proceed when documented data on nutrients or specific foods (e.g. local foods) are missing undocumented data or imputation
Experiences:
2. Data check using INFOODS guidelines
Very important, especially when borrowing data from multiple sources comparability of foods
Time consuming especially for non-experienced personnel
Frequently reported difficulties
● Food description → specifications
● Definition carbohydrates → available versus total
● Significant values, decimals
Experiences 3. QA using EuroFIR guidelines
Ca Fe Zn B1 B2 B6 B12 Fol Vit A Vit C
Cambodia
(3.4-5.1) 4.3 4.7 4.3 4.5 4.7 4.2 4.3 4.7 4.5 4.6
Thailand
(5.7-9.2) 7.6 7 7.6 7.3 7.9 7.2 7.3 7.3 8.2 8.0
Vietnam
(6.1-9.4) 6.6 6.4 6.4 6.5 6.5 n.a. n.a. n.a. 6.4 6.7
Laos
(no QA) n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.
Indonesia
(2.6-8.7) 5.6 6.1 5.9 5.2 6.6 6.6 n.a. n.a. 5.6 4.1
Overall….
Limited nutrient data on local food items required labor-intensive
search actions to impute nutrient values from regional and non-
regional sources (folate, vitamin D, niacin, B6 and B12)
Finding documentation for missing data and for quality
assessment was frustrating
Time span for complex food composition tasks is short in a
project with many competing demands
Sound food composition work requires experience and expertise
To conclude
5 National new/updated FCT’s
Feeling for quality of data
Lessons for future and priority for research
There is an urgent need for high-quality composition data on South-East Asian foods, with proper documentation of their data origin
Thanks for your attention!
http://www.nutrition-smiling.eu/
EU FP 7 Framework Grant Agreement number 289616