“Evaluation of Regional Diet of the Northwest of Argentine”

BASSETT MARIA NATALIA; SAMMAN NORMA

Norwich

Conferencia; 9th International Food Data Conference (9th IFDC); 2011

Institute of Food Research (IFR) Colney, Norwich, NR4 7UA, UK

Puna, Quebrada of Humahuaca and Valleys Calchaquíes are located in the Andean zone of Jujuy and Tucumán provinces (height up to 1700 m above sea level), Argentine. Their populations are descendants of indigenous people from different ethnic groups. Both are rural areas with distant population from urban centres, poor communication media and unsatisfactory health care. Objective: To study the regional diet and analyze the nutritional value of typical dishes of the region. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional nutritional survey that included one 24h recall and a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire was conducted among a statistically representative sample of the population. Also the recipe of the most consumed regional dishes prepared at home and school canteens were collected. Results: Argentine Food Composition Tables (FCT) does not contain information about regional foods so that it was necessary to realize an analysis of them to fulfill recipe calculation. These data were incorporated to the ARGENFOODS and LATINFOODS FCT. The regional dishes varies little from one day to another, constituting a monotonous diet with high intake of fried foods, refined grains, and little quantity and variety of vegetables and fruits. Also these populations have a high consumed of sugary and carbonated drinks. These populations had limited use of regional foods. In both provinces for most of population very low intakes of calcium, iron, folate, thiamin, riboflavin, zinc, magnesium and vitamin E were observed. Conclusions: Chronic malnutrition and deprivation at the household level seemed to be major nutritional problems; they were reflected in the low values of height in children, adolescents and adults from Jujuy. On the other hand, overweight and obesity prevalence among adults was also very high in both regions. It is necessary to recover and develop the food ancient culture of the population in addition to revalue regional foods.