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Dietetic characteristics of a sample of Mayan dual burden households in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico

journal contribution
posted on 2015-11-10, 16:09 authored by Hugo Azcorra, Hannah J. Wilson, Barry Bogin, Maria Ines Varela Silva, Adriana Vazquez-Vazquez, Federico Dickinson
The Maya are the most populous and shortest in stature Native American ethnic group. The Maya provide us a good opportunity to study the dietetic characteristics of a group who experience nutritional dual burden (the combination of under and overnutrition) at the individual, mother-child dyad and population level. The aim of this study is to describe general dietetic patterns of a sample of Maya mothers and children who experienced nutritional dual burden and were living in the city of Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. From February to July 2010 we applied food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) to 58 dyads of Maya mothers and their children (7-9 years old). The FFQ was developed by the staff of the Human Ecology Group at Cinvestav and included 78 foods, grouped in: cereals and tubers, foods of animal origin, leguminous vegetables, fats, fruits, vegetables, sugars, and daily products. The frequencies of consumption were classified in four levels: 1) no consumption, 2) low (1-2 days/week), 3) medium (3-4 days/week), high (5-7 days/week). The observed pattern suggests a low consumption of fruits and vegetables, a medium consumption of pork, eggs, oil and lard, and a high consumption of soda and whole milk. From these frequencies we extrapolated that the dietetic pattern is characterized by a low intake of fibre and micronutrients and high intake of fat and sugars, findings supported by previous National and regional studies. Our observations suggest that the studied group have a dietetic pattern that has moved away from a traditional Maya diet. Key words: The Maya are the most populous and shortest in stature Native American ethnic group.; The Maya provide us a good opportunity to study the dietetic characteristics of a group who experience nutritional dual burden (the combination of under and overnutrition) at the individual, mother-child dyad and population level. The aim of this study is to describe general dietetic patterns of a sample of Maya mothers and children who experienced nutritional dual burden and were living in the city of Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. From February to July 2010 we applied food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) to 58 dyads of Maya mothers and their children (7-9 years old). The FFQ was developed by the staff of the Human Ecology Group at Cinvestav and included 78 foods, grouped in: cereals and tubers, foods of animal origin, leguminous vegetables, fats, fruits, vegetables, sugars, and daily products. The frequencies of consumption were classified in four levels: 1) no consumption, 2) low (1-2 days/week), 3) medium (3-4 days/week), high (5-7 days/week). The observed pattern suggests a low consumption of fruits and vegetables, a medium consumption of pork, eggs, oil and lard, and a high consumption of soda and whole milk. From these frequencies we extrapolated that the dietetic pattern is characterized by a low intake of fibre and micronutrients and high intake of fat and sugars, findings supported by previous National and regional studies. Our observations suggest that the studied group have a dietetic pattern that has moved away from a traditional Maya diet.

Funding

This work was supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation (#IRCG-93).

History

School

  • Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences

Published in

Annales Latino Americanos de Nutricion

Volume

0

Pages

1 - ?

Citation

VARELA SILVA, M.I. ... et al, 2014. Dietetic characteristics of a sample of Mayan dual burden households in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. Archivos Latinoamericanos de Nutricion, Año 2013, 63 (3), pp.209-217.

Publisher

Órgano Oficial de la Sociedad Latinoamericana de Nutrición

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Publication date

2014

Notes

This paper is closed access.

ISSN

0004-0622

Language

  • en

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