Agbemafle Isaac, Francis Sarah L, Jensen Helen H, Reddy Manju B
Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.
School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Ghana.
Food Nutr Bull. 2019 Dec;40(4):488-503. doi: 10.1177/0379572119863561. Epub 2019 Aug 4.
Nutritious underutilized foods (NUFs) significantly contribute to sustainable dietary diversity but are often unused for many reasons.
We assessed the influence of food security status (FSS) and anemia-related knowledge (ARK) on perceptions about (turkey berry) and (palm weevil larvae) among Ghanaian caregivers.
A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 891 caregivers (aged 20-49 years), who have children 6 to 59 months old, from Upper Manya Krobo district (Eastern region), Kumasi metropolitan (Ashanti region), Ho municipality (Volta region), La-Nkwantanang-Madina, and Ga West municipality (Greater-Accra region), Ghana. Food security status, ARK, and perceptions about the 2 NUFs were obtained using pretested semi-structured questionnaire. Logistic regression models were used to determine effect of FSS and ARK on perception outcomes.
Thirty-six percent of caregivers were food secure, while 13.9%, 28.4%, and 21.7%, respectively, were mildly, moderately, and severely food insecure. Most caregivers (62.0%) scored above 70% on ARK. High favorable perception was significantly lower for palm weevil larvae than that for turkey berry. Food secure caregivers were 4.5 times more likely to have poor favorable perceptions about palm weevil larvae than food insecure caregivers ( = .03). However, food secure caregivers were 2.9 times more likely to have high favorable perceptions about turkey berry than food insecure caregivers ( < .001). Caregivers' knowledge about anemia was associated with high favorable perception about turkey berry by 3.3-fold (95% confidence interval: 2-5.5, = .001).
Nutrition education about turkey berry and palm weevil larvae is needed to encourage their use for promoting nutrient density of complementary and household foods.
营养丰富但未得到充分利用的食物（NUFs）对可持续饮食多样性有显著贡献，但由于多种原因常常未被使用。
我们评估了粮食安全状况（FSS）和贫血相关知识（ARK）对加纳看护人对刺天茄（turkey berry）和棕榈象甲幼虫（palm weevil larvae）看法的影响。
对来自加纳上曼亚克罗博区（东部地区）、库马西市（阿散蒂地区）、霍市（沃尔特地区）、拉-恩夸坦南-马迪纳以及大阿克拉地区的加西部市，年龄在20至49岁、有6至59个月大孩子的891名看护人进行了横断面调查。使用经过预测试的半结构化问卷获取粮食安全状况、贫血相关知识以及对这两种营养丰富但未得到充分利用食物的看法。采用逻辑回归模型确定粮食安全状况和贫血相关知识对看法结果的影响。
36%的看护人粮食安全，而分别有13.9%、28.4%和21.7%的人轻度、中度和重度粮食不安全。大多数看护人（62.0%）在贫血相关知识方面得分高于70%。对棕榈象甲幼虫的高度正面看法显著低于对刺天茄的高度正面看法。粮食安全的看护人对棕榈象甲幼虫持有负面看法的可能性是粮食不安全看护人的4.5倍（P = 0.03）。然而，粮食安全的看护人对刺天茄持有高度正面看法的可能性是粮食不安全看护人的2.9倍（P < 0.001）。看护人对贫血的了解与对刺天茄的高度正面看法相关，关联度为3.3倍（95%置信区间：2至5.5，P = 0.001）。
需要开展关于刺天茄和棕榈象甲幼虫的营养教育，以鼓励将它们用于提高辅食和家庭食物的营养密度。
