Number of Dishes as an Indicator of Nutrient Intake in China

Number of Dishes as an Indicator of Nutrient Intake in China

HARUO NAKATSUKA, ZUO-WEN ZHANG,¹ TAKAO WATANABE,² SHINICHIRO SHIMBO,¹ NAOKO MATSUDA-INOGUCHI,³
JIANG-BIN QU,⁴ KAE HIGASHIKAWA⁵ and MASAYUKI IKEDA⁵

Miyagi University, Taiwa-cho 981-3298,
¹Department of Food and Nutrition, Kyoto Women's University, Kyoto 605-8501,
²Miyagi University of Education, Sendai 980-0845,
³University of Shiga Prefecture, Hikone 522-8533,
⁴Department of Hygiene, Faculty of Public Health, Shandong University Medical School, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China, and
⁵Kyoto Industrial Health Association, Kyoto 604-8472

The objectives of this analysis are to investigate if counting the number of dishes consumed per day is a rapid procedure for estimating daily nutrient intake in China, and to explore if urban-rural differences exist in the daily number of dishes. A nutritional survey (including dish number counting) was conducted on 499 adult women in six urban and four rural communities in China. The number of dishes was an influential variable in estimating intake of protein, animal protein, fat, animal fat, and some vitamins (e.g., vitamin B₂) and minerals (e.g., zinc), but not of energy and carbohydrate. Intake of some nutrients (e.g., protein) was sufficient when people consume more than 10 dishes per day. Thus, the number of dishes is a useful indicator of sufficient intake of animal protein and fat as well as some micro-nutrients. The application of the dish number counting method showed that there was a significant difference between urban (11.9 dishes per day) and rural populations (7.9 dishes).

Keywords —— animal protein; China; fat; number of dishes consumed per day; nutrient intake; urban-rural difference

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2002, 197, 189-199

Address for reprints: Prof. Masayuki Ikeda, Kyoto Industrial Health Association, 67 Nishinokyo-Kitatsuboicho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto 604-8472, Japan.

e-mail: ikeda@kyotokojohokenkai.or.jp