Vitamin A knowledge and household consumption frequency of vitamin A – rich foods in Tangail, Bangladesh

Abstract

Introduction: Vitamin A deficiency is one of the most serious health problems in developing countries. This study aims to explore the comparative figure of vitamin A knowledge, household consumption frequency of vitamin A-rich foods, and association of socio-demographic factors with knowledge and consumption in four residential areas in Tangail district, Bangladesh. Methods: This study used a population-based cross-sectional design with 400 study participants selected using purposive sampling technique. Knowledge and consumption frequency were assessed by a structured questionnaire along with food frequency table. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Results: Only 33.5% participants had primary vitamin A knowledge, where most from urban (48.5%) and semi-urban (30.6%) areas had comparatively higher knowledge than those from rural (11.2%) and slum (9.7%) areas. Specific knowledge level was also poorer in rural and slum areas than urban and semi-urban areas. Most of the participants received knowledge through commercial advertisements (65.7%). Household consumption frequency of vitamin A-rich foods (plant and animal) was comparatively lower in rural and slum areas than in urban and semi-urban areas. Different socio-demographic factors (place of residence, education and household income) significantly influenced participant’s vitamin A knowledge and household consumption of vitamin A-rich foods (p<0.05). Conclusion: In general, the study population lacked knowledge regarding the importance of vitamin A. Consumption frequency of vitamin A-rich foods was still poorer in slum and rural areas than in urban and semi-urban areas.

Selecting orange-fleshed sweet potato genotypes using selection indices

“…For PC, the rank index provided a selection gain of 20.03% compared to only 0.2% for the classic index (Table 3). PC is directly correlated with the carotenoid content present in the root pulp, which is a precursor of vitamin A (Low et al, 2017;Bento, 2021), an important component in the complex synthesis of retinol (Begum et al, 2021). The Mulamba & Mock index detected selection gains of 20% for pulp color, which allows us to infer the existence of variability in the populations of half-siblings evaluated and that it is possible to promote sweet potato biofortification with vitamin A Table 2.…”

“…V itamin A deficiency (VAD) is one of the most serious health problems in developing countries (Begum et al, 2021) and can cause anemia, infections, xerophthalmia, cancer, and death (McTiernan, 2021). The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes that VAD affects approximately 19 million pregnant women and 190 million children of preschool age worldwide.…”

“…The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes that VAD affects approximately 19 million pregnant women and 190 million children of preschool age worldwide. The majority of them are located in the regions of Africa and Southeast Asia (Shikuku et al, 2019;Begum et al, 2021). In Brazil, VAD has been considered a public health problem in recent decades, especially in the Northeast region and in some places in the Southeast and North regions.…”

“…A, which consists of ingesting the substance's precursor, the so-called carotenes, from vegetables and fruits; and preformed vitamin A, which comes from animal sources, called retinol (Begum et al, 2021). It is estimated that carotenes from vegetables contribute to approximately 68% of vitamin A in people's diets globally and 82% in developed countries (Machado Júnior et al, 2017).…”