A Cross-Sectional Study of the Street Foods Purchased by Customers in Urban Areas of Central Asia

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2021

Authors

Sousa, S (Author) Other; de Morais, IL (Author) Other; Albuquerque, G (Author) Other; Gelormini, M (Author) Other; Casal, S (Author) Other; Pinho, Olívia (Author) FCNAUP; Motta, C (Author) Other; Damasceno, A (Author) Other; Moreira, Pedro (Author) FCNAUP; Breda, J (Author) Other; Lunet, N (Author) FMUP; Padrão, Patrícia (Author) FCNAUP

Journal

Title: Nutrients

Vol. 13

Final page: 3651

ISSN: 2072-6643

Publisher: MDPI

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 3 Citations

Scopus - 4 Citations

Scientific classification

CORDIS: Health sciences

FOS: Medical and Health sciences

Associated Projects

FEEDcities - Food Environment Description in cities from Central Asia and Eastern European countries (FEEDcities – Central Asia and Eastern European countries)

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00V-JG0

DOI: 10.3390/nu13103651

Abstract (EN): This study aimed to describe street food purchases in cities from Central Asia, considering customers' characteristics and the nutritional composition of the foods and beverages. Cross-sectional studies were conducted in 2016/2017 in Dushanbe (Tajikistan), Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) and Almaty (Kazakhstan). Direct observation was used to collect data on the purchases made by street food customers, selected by random and systematic sampling. Nutritional composition was estimated using data from chemical analyses, food composition tables or food labels. A total of 714 customers (56.6% females, 55.5% aged & GE;35 years, 23.3% overweight/obese) were observed, who bought 852 foods and beverages, the most frequent being savoury pastries/snacks (23.2%), main dishes (19.0%), sweet pastries/confectionery (17.9%), tea/coffee (11.3%) and soft drinks/juices (9.8%). Fruit was the least purchased food (1.1%). Nearly one-third of customers purchased industrial food items (31.9%). The median energy content of a street food purchase was 529 kcal/serving. Saturated and trans-fat median contents were 4.7 g/serving and 0.36 g/serving (21.4% and 16.5% of maximum daily intake recommendations, respectively). Median sodium and potassium contents were 745 mg/serving (37.3% of maximum recommendation) and 304 mg/serving (8.7% of minimum recommendation), respectively. In general, the purchases observed presented high contents of energy, saturated-fat, trans-fat and sodium, and low levels of potassium. Policies towards the improvement of these urban food environments should be encouraged.</p>

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 16