Abstract
One serious concern of health policymakers in South Africa is the fact that there is no national data on the dietary intake of adult South Africans. The only national dietary study was done in children in 1999. Hence, it becomes difficult to plan intervention and strategies to combat malnutrition without national data on adults. The current review consequently assessed all dietary studies in adults from 2000 to June 2015 in an attempt to portray typical adult dietary intakes and to assess possible dietary deficiencies. Notable findings were that, in South Africa micronutrient deficiencies are still highly prevalent and energy intakes varied between very low intakes in informal settlements to very high intakes in urban centers. The most commonly deficient food groups observed are fruit and vegetables, and dairy. This has been attributed to high prices and lack of availability of these food groups in poorer urban areas and townships. In rural areas, access to healthy foods also remains a problem. A national nutrition monitoring system is recommended in order to identify dietary deficiencies in specific population groups.
Highlights
There is a dearth of national data regarding the dietary intake of adult South Africans since there has never been a national study on adults
These databases are the unpublished dietary data of three studies, namely: the prospective urban and rural epidemiological (PURE) study designed to track the changing lifestyles, risk factors and chronic disease among the South African population in 2005 and 2010 in the North West province [20,21]; and the cardiovascular risk in black South Africans (CRIBSA) study designed to measure the dietary intake of the urban black population in Cape Town in 2009 [22]
We have compared the intakes with the dietary reference intakes (DRIs) [24], usually the estimated average requirements (EARs), adequate intakes (AIs), recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) and acceptable macronutrient distribution range (AMDR)
Summary
There is a dearth of national data regarding the dietary intake of adult South Africans since there has never been a national study on adults. Local, isolated and fragmented dietary intake studies have been used by nutrition professionals and decision-makers in an effort to understand the nutrient intake of adult South Africans. These studies included, among others: Coronary Risk Factor Study (CORIS and CRISIC) [2,3,4]; Black Risk Factors Study (BRISK) [5,6]; Weight and Risk Factor Study (WRFS) [7]; Dikgale. The data generated by secondary data analyses indicated that certain nutrients were deficient in the diet of some individuals of the adult population These included: calcium, iron, zinc, riboflavin, niacin, folate, and vitamins B6, A, E and C [16]. In addition to the nutrient intakes, data of commonly consumed food items and their portion sizes was generated
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