ABSTRACT Background: Knowledge of the nutritional composition of foods is absolutely indispensable for proper diet therapy and dietetic counselling. Cow hide (wele), cow intestines, cow tripe, and cow foot serve as special delicacies in Ghana, but the nutritional composition of these animal products are either missing in the Ghanaian food composition tables or have not been updated for over 40 years. Furthermore, the Ghana food composition tables do not have any information on the fatty acid ...
ABSTRACT Introduction: Football is a popular sport. Footballers will perform better if their nutritional status is optimum. Iron is a nutrient required for performance. Energy expenditure must be met to maintain performance. Creatinine levels indicate kidney function and electrolyte balance to some extent. Aim: This study assessed energy expenditure and iron status of premier league footballers in Ghana Methods: Registered footballers in three teams in the First Capital Plus Premier League, B...
ABSTRACT Background: Vegetarianism is a dietary lifestyle that involves the restriction of diet, disallowing some or all foods of animal origin, thereby consuming mainly foods of plant origin. Vegetarian diets are composed of only plant products which include fruits and vegetables, as well as grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. The plant products they consume are rich sources of vitamins such as Vitamins A, C and E which act directly as antioxidants, as well as protein and minerals such as zinc,...
ABSTRACT Introduction: To protect, promote and support breastfeeding, WHO/UNICEF introduced the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) to eliminate negative hospital practices that interfere with successful lactation. BFHI has been associated with increased EBF. However in Ghana, no study has been done to assess the impact of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative on breastfeeding. This study was done to determine the effect of hospital status – Baby Friendly and Non-Baby Friendly on infan...
ABSTRACT Background: Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for six months confers several benefits to infants. It reduces infections and mortality and improves mental and motor development. The prevalence of EBF in Ghana is far from optimal having reduced from 63% in 2008 to 46% in 2011. Poor feeding practices during early childhood have been shown to contribute to stunting. The Upper East region of Ghana has 32% of its children under five stunted. Objective: To assess breastfeeding and complementary...
ABSTRACT Background: Childhood obesity is becoming very common worldwide and similar trends are being seen in Ghana. Various researches have shown that several genes are linked to obesity. Several genes including adrenoceptor beta 3 (ADRB3) gene have been implicated. ADRB3, is mainly expressed in adipose tissue, and contributes to variations in energy expenditure and body fat distribution. Polymorphisms of the ADRB3 have been suggested to participate in the pathogenesis of obesity. There is n...
ABSTRACT Zinc is a micronutrient indispensable for growth, development, reproduction, and for the activities of over 2 0 0 enzymes embracing all physiological activities. Zinc deficiency in the preschool age group therefore leads to growth faltering, wasting, stunting and general degeneration in physiological activities. In rural areas of Egypt and Iran where zinc deficiency was first identified, dietary factors of plant origin ( especially phytic acid and fibre), which impair zinc absorption...
ABSTRACT Background: Infants who are not exclusively breastfed during the first six months of life are given a wide variety of other foods or drinks during the period to complement or replace breast milk, these food items are termed Breast Milk Substitutes (BMS). Inadequate Exclusive Breastfeeding (EBF) is associated with increased infant morbidity and death. In Ghana about one-third of infants under six months old are not exclusively breastfed suggesting reliance on breast milk substitutes (...
ABSTRACT Background: Infants who are not exclusively breastfed during the first six months of life are given a wide variety of other foods or drinks during the period to complement or replace breast milk, these food items are termed Breast Milk Substitutes (BMS). Inadequate Exclusive Breastfeeding (EBF) is associated with increased infant morbidity and death. In Ghana about one-third of infants under six months old are not exclusively breastfed suggesting reliance on breast milk substitutes (...
ABSTRACT Tomato (Solanum lycopersicon L.) is a major horticultural crop with an estimated global production of over 153 million metric tons. It is the most important fruit vegetable and the second most widely cultivated crop in the world after potato, with a total production of about 141 million tons. In 2009, the average total yield in Ghana was 7.5 Mt ha-1 compared to the achievable yield of 15.0 Mt ha-1. The tomato industry in Ghana for the past decade has been bedevilled by a myriad of pr...
ABSTRACT Background: Adolescence is an important growth and development life stage which has implications for future nutritional status and food consumption habits. School meals may offer an opportunity to enhance dietary intakes and nutritional status of adolescent girls in boarding school settings. However, there is limited information on the nutritional quality of school meals, dietary habits and nutritional status of adolescent girls in senior high boarding schools in Ghana. Objective: Th...
ABSTRACT Anaemia in pregnancy continues to be a huge public health problem worldwide with multiple adverse outcomes on both mother and child especially in developing countries. The causes of anaemia among pregnant women (PW) are multifactorial and may be associated with inadequate dietary intake of iron-rich foods. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of a nutrition education (NE) intervention on haemoglobin (Hb) levels, knowledge and dietary intake of anaemic PW in Gomoa East (GE)...
ABSTRACT Sensory evaluation is a useful tool in the food and non-food industries. Sensory evaluation of frozen desserts including polyethylene packed ones popularly found in Ghana are greatly affected by serving temperatures. Frozen desserts have been assessed with static methods like Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA®) but the temporal perceptions throughout consumptions are rarely covered. With food companies weary of the time intensive nature of descriptive methods like QDA® and cha...
SUMMARY Zinc is a micronutrient indispensable for growth, development, reproduction, and for the activities of over 200 enzymes embracing all physiological activities. Zinc deficiency in the preschool age group therefore leads to growth faltering, wasting, stunting and general degeneration in physiological activities. In rural areas of Egypt and Iran where zinc deficiency was first identified, dietary factors of plant origin ( especially phytic acid and fibre), which impair zinc absorpt...
ABSTRACT Qualitative studies on enteropathogenic bacteria in chicken on the Ghanaian market, using Accra Metropolitan Area, as a unit case, was assessed. A total of 184 samples, made up of 97 cloacal swabs from 3 different farms and 87 surface rinses of carcasses from different retail outlets were examined for the presence of Campylobacter sp., Salmonella sp., Shigella sp., and Escherichia coli. Out of the 97 cloacal swabs, 14 (14.4%) were positive for Campylobacter, 7 (7.2%) for Salmon...