Accelerated nutrition transition in the North West Province of South Africa: results from the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology (PURE-NWP-SA) cohort study, 2005 to 2010
Date
2018Author
Wentzel-Viljoen, Edelweiss
Lee, Sarie
Vorster, Hester H.
Laubscher, Ria
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Objective: South Africa (SA) is in the midst of a health transition characterized by a
quadruple burden of diseases and a nutrition transition. The existing nutrition
transition in SA, accompanied by the coexistence of under- and overnutrition in
the population, motivated the present study. Its objectives were to measure and
report the changes in nutrient intakes of rural and urban black Africans over time
to assess the impact of urbanization and modernization of lifestyles on dietary
intakes and non-communicable disease (NCD) risk.
Design: The PURE-NWP-SA study recruited 2000 black South African volunteers
aged 35–70 years in 2005, of which detailed nutrient intakes from 1858 participants
were available. In 2010 nutrient intakes of a cohort of 1154 participants were
measured.
Results: Median energy intake increased over time. In 2010, rural participants
consumed the amount of energy (men 9·7 MJ/d; women 9·1 MJ/d) that urban
participants consumed in 2005 (men 9·9 MJ/d; women 9·0 MJ/d). The nutrition
transition was characterized by increases in the percentage of energy from animal
protein, total fat (rural men and women), saturated (not urban women) and
monounsaturated fat, as well as added sugar. Despite the higher energy intake, not
all the participants met total micronutrient needs in 2010.
Conclusions: The PURE nutrient intake data confirmed that the nutrition transition
in the North West Province of SA is extremely rapid in rural areas. The shift
towards higher energy intakes, an animal food-based diet, higher intakes of fat
and lower intake of fibre, at the cost of lower plant protein and starchy food
intakes, could increase the risk of NCD
Collections
- Faculty of Health Sciences [2376]