Assessment of Portion Sizes of Food Items Commonly Consumed by Urban Indian Adults: A Preliminary Study

Vidisha Sharma*, Ravinder Chadha

Department of Food and Nutrition, Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India.

Corresponding Author Email: vidisha0893@gmail.com

Estimation of food portion sizes is crucial for accurate and comprehensive assessment of dietary intake and nutrition counselling. The present study aimed to assess food portion sizes of adults residing in urban Delhi. A sample of 60 adults (25-60 years, male=female=30) belonging to families with earning members (male/female) engaged in government/private service within the monthly income range of Rs.40,000 to Rs.1,80,000 was selected purposively. Twenty four hour diet recall was conducted for two non-consecutive days for each participant. Data on commonly consumed food items were extracted from recalls and a list of 23 frequently eaten food items was finalized. Standardization of cooking methods and recipes was done for all the selected food items and estimated portion sizes were converted to weight equivalents. The mean, 25th, 50th (median) and 75th percentiles for food portions of the selected items were calculated for the participants. Food portion sizes were compared between male and female participants to identify gender differences. Tea, chapati, milk (as beverage), boiled rice and biscuits were the top five most frequently consumed food items, having the median portion sizes of 170 ml, 2 (in units), 306ml, 140g and 2 (in units), respectively. Male participants consumed significantly larger portion sizes than females for 12 food items (p<0.05). The methodology of this study can be utilized to prepare food portion size database for various population groups which can be used to develop more precise tools for diet assessment that are more suited to Indian population.

Diet Assessment; Dietary Intake; Food Portion Size; Portion Size Estimation; Urban Indian Adults

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