Introduction:
The World Health Organization’s (WHO)-Eastern Mediterranean Region Office (EMRO) aims to reduce the consumption of sugar, fat (saturated fatty acids, trans fatty acids) and salt; and decrease the risk of obesity and non-communicable diseases in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR). To address this Quadram Institute Bioscience is working jointly with WHO-EMRO in providing training and capacity development to national experts, leading to standardized, harmonized, comprehensive, open access Food Composition Data (FCD) to underpin food and nutrition programs and policies in these low- and middle-income countries (LMIC).
Materials and Methods:
By identifying specific regional needs for FCD compilation, detailed training workshops were developed to enable the production of vital high-quality harmonised data in the EMR including: Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Kuwait, Tunisia, Morocco, Sudan, Egypt, and Jordan. Training on standardized methodologies for food composition and dietary intake methods, biomarkers, analytical methods and FCD tools were provided by experts from UK, Serbia, Portugal and WHO-EMRO, via knowledge exchange workshops and short-term training exchange of researchers.
Results:
A total of 45 FCD expert compilers from 13 countries attended 2 workshops and 3 training exchanges. Knowledge transfer consisted of: value documentation; quality assessment; online food composition data tools; food classification and description of composite dishes; recipe calculation; yield and retention factors; and laboratory food analysis (vitamins A, B1, B2, C, D2, D3 and E, fatty acids, amino acids, minerals, fibre). FCD from 6 countries was standardized using the EuroFIR data template and Theasuri (standardised vocabularies). The final datasets from Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Kuwait, Tunisia and Morocco were made available via FoodExplorer an innovative interface for FCD which allows users to search information from food composition data simultaneously across many countries.
Discussion:
The use of improved standardized methodologies for food composition and dietary intake will produce robust measurements that will reinforce dietary monitoring and policy in LMIC. The capacity building from this project has led to searchable national food composition data from LMIC being made available as open access form for the first time. WHO-EMRO, is funding further updates of FCD tables in Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco, Pakistan, Iran, Egypt, and UAE, with the focus on identifying TFA, SFA, salt and sugar in addition to micronutrients.Project supported by Global Challenges Research Funds (UK) and Medical Research Council (MR/R019576/1), is grateful to WHO EMRO.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
