Nutritional composition of commonly consumed composite dishes from the Central Province of Cameroon.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: To provide nutritional composition of 34 composite dishes commonly consumed in Cameroon, in order to enable dietary intake to be calculated from a Quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire developed specifically for this population to determine associations between diet and diabetes.

METHODS AND PROCEDURES: A total of 197 recipes were collected for 34 composite dishes. Multiple samples of each dish were collected from a range of 2-16 households in the villages of Evadoula and in the city of Yaounde.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: The average nutritional composition for these composite dishes was calculated using the US Department of Agriculture National Nutrient Database. We provide the energy, macronutrient and micronutrient content of these foods.

CONCLUSIONS: We provide, for the first time, the macronutrient and micronutrient content of 34 commonly consumed composite dishes in the Central Province of Cameroon. Such data are essential for calculating nutrient intake and determining associations between diet and diabetes and other chronic diseases. These data may also be used for nutrition interventions aimed at modifying commonly consumed composite dishes to improve dietary intake.