Dietary intake of Sudanese women

Objectives: To determine the daily intake of essential micro- and macronutrients in Sudanese women, with specific focus on dietary fat and essential fatty acids, and compare the dietary intakes of internally displaced women with those of the non-displaced population. Methods: Dietary intakes of displaced southern (n=44) and non-displaced southern (n=30) and northern (n=39) Sudanese women were obtained by single 24-hour recall method, and daily nutrient intakes were calculated using ‘Foodbase’ nutritional software. The displaced women were recruited from Mayo and Soba Aradi camps, south of Khartoum city; and non-displaced southern and northern Sudanese women were recruited from antenatal clinics, universities, hospitals and the community in Khartoum city and Omdurman, Sudan. Results: Carbohydrates provided over 60% of dietary energy for all the Sudanese women groups. The displaced women had significantly lower intake of energy (1744 ± 344 kcal/d), starch (p<0.001) and carbohydrates (312 ± 11 g/d, p<0.01) than both non-displaced southern (1972 ± 229 kcal/d energy, 358 ± 56 g/d carbohydrates) and northern Sudanese women (1988 ± 226 kcal/d energy, 357 ± 56g/d carbohydrates). Fat intake was also lower in the displaced group (34.1 ± 11.9 g/d) than in the non-displaced counterpart (38.5 ± 10.2 g/d) (p<0.05), but was not significantly different from northern Sudanese women (37.6 ± 10.6, p>0.05). Intakes of iodine (33.60–56.96 µg/d), zinc (7.12–9.92 mg/d), retinol (226.1–349.7 µg/d), riboflavin (0.44–0.70 mg/d) and docosahexaenoic acid (11.70–33.49 mg/d) amongst Sudanese women were very low compared with recommendations. Conclusion: The Sudanese diet was less diverse and differences in energy and nutrients intakes between groups were due to the amounts of food consumed. This view is supported by a lack of significant differences when intakes were expressed as proportion of whole energy between all groups of women.