Background – Most plant foods, especially green vegetables, wholegrain breads and cereals and peas and dried beans contain folates. There is a critical need to estimate dietary folate intakes for nutrition monitoring and food safety evaluations in the South Pacific.
Objectives – One objective of this survey was to ascertain the knowledge of the people of the Central and Eastern parts of Viti Levu in the Fiji Islands about the importance of folates in their diet. Another objective was to collect information on the types of food consumed by the population in order to select folate containing foods and to analyse their folate content. A third objective was to assess whether the people surveyed were getting sufficient folates in their daily diet.
Design – A short qualitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) to assess folate intake was developed. A random sample of 200 males and females was interviewed in the year 2005. The average age for the study sample was 35 years old. 50% were from rural areas and 50% from urban.
Outcomes – The FFQ showed that most of the foods high in folic acid/ folate were being consumed only once a week in both the male and female population. In the research study of folate levels in Fiji leafy vegetables, Chinese cabbage (Brassica chinensis) and Bele (Abelmoschus manihot) were found to have high levels of folates (1). However, it was noted that of the female population surveyed, none consumed these vegetables on a daily basis. Conclusion – There is a need to explore ways to improve folate intakes in the overall population in Fiji Islands and the South Pacific to prevent folate deficiency diseases, especially neural tube defect in females of child bearing age. Reference
1 Sotheeswaran S, Riteshma Devi, Jayashree Arcot, Sadaquat Ali. Folate concentration of selected Fijian Foods using Tri-enzyme Extraction method, J. Food Composition and Analysis, 2006, submitted.