No abstract

Dietary fiber (OF) is now considered as a part of healthful diet because it plays an important role in preventing many of organic diseases. A survey was conducted to evaluate the perceived ro le of DF in healthy diet and its intake level among educated urbanites of Dhaka city. For dietary information, a 24 hours recall method along with a 7 day food frequency questionnaire was used. The findings show that the respondents were aware of OF and were able to name fiber rich foods. They perceived that fruits and vegetables are the rich source of OF. But fiber consumption frequencies showed that majority of them do not take fruits and vegetables everyday. As a result OF intake of the respondents was found 7.87 gjday, far below the recommended level (25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35) glday or lO g/ 1000 Kcal). Thus the study revealed that though the health benefits of OF was perceived and recognized by our educated population but they do not practice it .

Consumer's sensory perception of food attributes plays a vital role in food preference. Sensory responses to the flavor (taste and aroma), color, and texture of food are determinants of individual food choices. A descriptive cross-sectional survey on perception of food attributes was conducted on 400 respondents (aged ≤40 years) to evaluate consumers' perception of flavoral attributes and perceived role of chosen foods in a healthy diet. The data were collected through face to face interviews of the respondent using a pretested structured questionnaire. A non-probability sampling method was used for the survey. Among the 400 respondents, 200 were males and the rest 200 were females with majority as students (40%). The consumers were found facing difficulty in perceiving the technical terms for attributes of foods but when different Bangla vocabulary denoting flavoral attributes was used then the respondents felt comfortable in understanding. About 41% of the preferred the Bangla word 'Shadgondho' to understand the concept of flavor. The correct perception of flavor (p=0.054) was not much dependent on the profession of respondents, but there was an association between their perception level and selection of preferred foods (p=0.018). Majority of the respondents (85.3%) preferred the food attribute 'fruity flavor' in selecting their foods for consumption. The respondents treated their chosen foods on flavoral attributes as menial to lunch or dinner and usually ate them as snacks. About one fourth of the respondents have higher sensory perception level and food preference ability. However, in combination with other food attributes like color and texture, this association needs further investigations.

An enzymatic-gravimetric method was employed to determine the content of insoluble dietary fiber and lignin in 4 cereals, 5 pulses, 4 starchy roots, and 3 tubers along with some of their varieties. The cultivars were identified at Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council and noted as their high yielding varieties released within last decade for cultivation in Bangladesh. Insoluble dietary fiber content, equivalent to alpha-amylase treated neutral detergent fiber (termed as E-NDF), was in a range from 0.97 g to 10.45 g for cereals, 8.18 g to 25.66 g for pulses, 2.62 g to 6.88 g for roots, and 2.26 g to 8.11 g for tubers per 100 g raw sample. Cell wall polysaccharides and Lignin were estimated from the E-NDF fraction sequentially using the methods of Van Soest and co-workers. Hemicellulose was found dominant among cell-wall polysaccharides in all the studied materials (up to 24.85% in pulses). Cell wall polysaccharide and lignin were not detected in some of the studied samples. Highest amount of cellulose was found in 'Gourab' variety of wheat (3.48%) while highest amount of lignin was estimated in sweet potato (2.87%). The results will, thus, provide a source data for dietary calculations.

Child dietary diversity (CDD) is an important nutritional outcome measuring the economic ability of a household to access a variety of foods during a determined period. Relating household income to CDD and child anthropometric failure, a cross-sectional study was conducted among 275 selected Dhaka city slum children of 6-12 years. Prevalence of stunting (18%), wasting (19.4%), and underweight (22%) among them were found similar to the current national figure. However, a sizable number of households showed increased DDS (>5), thereby indicating an increased household purchasing power (PP). Bivariate regression analysis showed that children from lower family income (≤6000 BDT) were 3 times more likely to be stunted as compared to children with greater family income [Unadjusted OR=3.097, 95% CI (1.578-6.077), p=0.001]. Furthermore, logistic regression showed that children who had <5 DDS were 2 times more likely to be stunted than children who had ≥5 DDS [Adjusted OR=2.127, 95% CI (1.051- 4.305), p=0.036]. Therefore, an inverse association has been found between CDD and their anthropometric failure. J. Bangladesh Acad. Sci. 45(1); 85-94: June 2021