Dietary magnesium intakes among women of reproductive age in Ghana—A comparison of two dietary analysis programs
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Date
2023
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
PLOS ONE
Abstract
Background
Despite the importance of magnesium to health and most importantly to women of reproductive age who are entering pregnancy, very few surveys have investigated the magnesium
status of women of reproductive age, particularly in Africa. Additionally, the software and
programs used to analyze dietary intake vary across countries in the region.
Objective
To assess the dietary magnesium intake of women of reproductive age in Ghana and to
compare the estimate of magnesium intake obtained from two commonly used dietary analysis programs.
Methods
We collected magnesium intake from 63 Ghanaian women using a semiquantitative 150-
item food frequency questionnaire. Dietary data was analyzed using two different dietary
analysis programs, Nutrient Data Software for Research (NDSR) and the Elizabeth Stewart
Hands and Associates (ESHA) Food Processor Nutrition Analysis software. We used the
Wilcoxon signed rank test to compare the mean differences between the two dietary
programs.
Results
There were significant differences between the average dietary magnesium intake calculated by the two dietary programs, with ESHA estimating higher magnesium intake than
NDSR (M±SE; ESHA: 200 ± 12 mg/day; NDSR: 168 ± 11 mg/day; p<0. 05). The ESHA data base included some ethnic foods and was flexible in terms of searching for food items which
we found to be more accurate in assessing the magnesium intake of women in Ghana.
Using the ESHA software, 84% of the study women had intake below the recommended dietary allowances (RDA) of 320mg/day. Conclusion
It is possible that the ESHA software provided an accurate estimate of magnesium in this
population because it included specific ethnic foods. Concerted efforts such as magnesium
supplementation and nutrition education should be considered to improve the magnesium
intake of women of reproductive age in Ghana.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Citation
Citation: Bentil HJ, Adu-Afarwuah S, Rossi JS, Tovar A, Oaks BM (2023) Dietary magnesium intakes among women of reproductive age in Ghana—A comparison of two dietary analysis programs. PLoS ONE 18(5): e0284648. https://doi. org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284648