ارزیابی دریافتهای غذایی ساکنین منطقه 13 تهران بر پایه هرم راهنمای غذایی

For individuals of a population, taking into account varying individual factors such as age, sex, growth stages of puberty, and significant durations such as pregnancy and lactation accompanied by physiologic changes, the importance of appropriate dietary intakes must be emphasized. The food guide pyramid is one of the best daily dietary guidelines that can be used to achieve this purpose. Since dietary assessments have generally focused on evaluating the adequacy of nutrient intakes and little attention has been paid to following the recommendations of the food guide pyramid, this study was performed to assess existing problems in current food habits and to offer solutions required in inhabitants of district 13 of Tehran.This is a cross-sectional study conducted within the framework of the national tehran lipid and glucose study (TLGS) on 920 individuals (472 women and 448 men) aged 10 years and over, who were randomly selected from the TLGS population and evaluated for nutritional status. Trained personnel through the 2-day dietray recall performed dietary assessment. Household values were converted to gram values, which were eventually converted to serving. Statistical analyses were done using the SPSS. Student t-test was used to test differences in means between sex groups and Chi-square test was used to determine the association of meeting the food guide pyramid recommendations with sex. Daily mean intakes of pyramid food groups were: bread and cereals 8.6±3.3 (the recommended number of servings 6-11) vegetables 3.7±2.0 (recommended number of servings 3-5) fruits 3.0±2.5 (recommended number of servings 2-4) dairy products 1.1±0.8 (recommended number of servings 2-3) meat and its alternatives 1.3±0.7 (recommended number of servings 2-3) and fats and sweets 7.1±2.7 (no recommendation). There were significant statistical differences between men and women for intakes of the following groups: grains (P<0.001), dairy products (P<0.01), meats and substitutes (P<0.001) and fats and sweets (P<0.001). In all of the above-mentioned, the mean intakes of the pyramid food groups in men were higher than in women. In about 80% of the population studied, the daily intakes of meat and dairy products were less than those recommended by the food guide pyramid. This study revealed that, as compared to recommendations of the food guide pyramid, daily mean intakes of various food groups were as follows: Bread and cereal servings were close to recommended dietary values, for vegetables the values slightly exceeded minimum recommendations, for fruits these values were the same as those recommended, but the closer we got to the pyramid peak the similarity in servings decreased such that for meat and its alternatives, and dairy groups they were lower than those recommended. For fats and sweets the daily mean intakes were very high. Taking the above results into consideration, the importance of public education aiming at modification of current nutritional habits to fit in with a standard food guide pyramid is strongly recommended.