No abstract

Fasting in the month of Ramadan is a religious, cultural, and social ritual for Muslims. The benefits it is supposed to provide to people who practice it are often impaired by unhealthy lifestyles including diet. The present research aimed to study risky eating behaviors and the variation in food expenditure of the Moroccan population during Ramadan. This study was conducted in 2018 in 340 households in urban and rural localities in the Rabat-Salé-Kenitra region of Morocco. Information on eating habits was collected by a nutritional survey using the method of dietary history; household food expenditure and sociodemographic characteristics were collected by a questionnaire. The average age of the population is 40 ± 14 years; the majority (40%) has a middle standard of living, and the average food expenditure increased by 50% during Ramadan. The food survey showed a significant increase in energy intake ( p < 0.001 ), carbohydrate intake ( p < 0.001 ), sucrose intake ( p = 0.02 ), sodium intake ( p < 0.001 ), and calcium intake ( p < 0.001 ) and a significant decrease in protein intake ( p < 0.001 ) and lipid intake ( p < 0.001 ), with no significant change in saturated fatty acid intake ( p = 0.86 ) during Ramadan. These results show that some dietary behaviors adopted during Ramadan could promote the development or worsening of overweight and chronic diseases. These data reveal the importance of nutritional education adapted to this sacred month.

Food is a multidimensional science that has appeal among other social representations of food practices. This study aimed to characterize and identify the determinants of eating practices according to the social representations of a population in the Rabat-Salé-Kenitra (RSK) region of Morocco. Data concerning socio-demographic characteristics were collected using a questionnaire. The social representations of dietary practices were obtained by characterizing three dietary practices. The main results showed that the high proportion of the study population is over 34 years old, is female, is married, and resides in the urban area. The most characteristic of good dietary practices chosen by the majority of the population was palatability, the factor chosen as the least characteristic of good dietary practices was traditional preparations. Among the studied factors, age, gender, higher level of education, professional occupation, "married" marital status, and involvement in purchasing and food preparation within the household are the determinants of certain representations.

Background. The use of validated and reliable methods and instruments is necessary to study dietary practices and nutritional status due to their direct impacts on population health. Objective. The aim is the validity and reliability of the conceptual and methodological framework of research on factors associated with dietary practices and nutritional status (FADPNS), carried out on adult population of the Rabat-Salé-Kenitra region in Morocco. Material and methods. First, we developed a conceptual and methodological framework for research on FADPNS, which aimed to study dietary practices, nutritional status, and the factors associated with them in an adult Moroccan population. Then, we studied the validity and reliability of this framework in three phases. Phase 1 focused on the validation of the content of the conceptual and methodological framework, Phase 2 focused on the study by an expert committee of the internal consistency validity (ICV) of the questionnaires used in this research , and Phase 3 consisted of the study of the reliability of the items questionnaires by the test of Cronbach Alpha. Results. Thus, the validated content of the conceptual framework of research on FADPNS includes socio-demographic, socio-economic, and socio-cultural characteristics; health status; physical activity, places of food purchase; food preparation, taking of meals, family commensality; social representations of good dietary practices; food consumption; and nutritional status. The questionnaires used in this research received an ICV score of 85%. The reliability test of the questionnaires showed a Cronbach Alpha value ≥ 0.5, which turned out to vary from "moderate" to "excellent". Conclusion. This work enabled the validation of the conceptual framework and the methodology of the study of the factors associated with dietary practices and nutritional status in the RSK region.

Background. Micronutrient malnutrition is a serious public health problem in most developing countries, including Morocco, due to poor and therefore lower quality diets that lack dietary diversity. Objective. The present study aimed to assess dietary diversity and variety and their relationship with micronutrient adequacy in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Materials and methods. A cross-sectional study was carried among 240 children and adolescents with T1D. Weight and height were measured and BMI was calculated. Dietary intake data were obtained from two 24-h recalls. A Dietary diversity (DDS) and dietary variety scores (DVS) and mean adequacy ratio (MAR) and nutritional adequacy ratios (NARs) were calculated and compared according to sociodemographic/anthropometric categories. Results. 52.1% of the patients were female. The mean age of the patients was 8.49 ± 4.1 years. The mean BMI was 19.44 ± 5.24 kg/m2; the mean DDS was 4.62±1.20 and the mean MAR was 0.66 ± 0.11. Older children living in rural areas have a low DDS/DVS. Parental education and income level are associated with DDS/DVS. General and central obesity were significantly elevated in children with high DDS. In addition, a high intake of vegetables, eggs, fiber and micronutrients (Magnesium, Calcium, Potassium, Zinc, Phosphorus and Vit B1) is associated with a high DDS; however, high DVS is associated with high consumption of dairy products, carbohydrates and low intake of protein and fat. There are also positive correlations between DDS/DVS and NARs for various nutrients. Conclusion. The quality of the respondents’ diets are moderately diversified. DDS or DVS can be used as indicators of micronutrient adequacy in Moroccan T1D children. Nutritional education needs to be strengthened to improve dietary diversity in children, especially in rural areas.