(P24-014-24) Collection and Standardization of Home Recipes in Esmeraldas, Ecuador

Objectives: As part of an ongoing effort to develop improved tools for dietary data collection in Ecuador and to support the dietary data collection within an ongoing birth cohort study in Esmeraldas, Ecuador, our objective was to develop a database of standardized recipes for the region. We also determined whether the composition of standardized recipes varied by the geographic location or food source.

Methods: A field assistant who received training and supervision by a professional nutritionist collected in the city of Esmeraldas, the town of Borbon, and 8 rural communities (4 accessible by road and 4 accessible by river). A detailed description of the recipe name, ingredients, portions, cooking methods, serving size, number of servings and preparation was applied, using the food photographic manual for Ecuador, food scale, homemade measurements, and a tablet with an ODK form.

The nutrient content of each ingredient in the collected recipes were estimated based on net weight and adjusted for cooking methods using weight yield factors and standard nutrient retention factors. The final nutrient values were calculated per 100 grams of the recipe consumed and averaged across 5-7 recipes to create the standardized recipe. To compare standardized recipes from rural versus urban areas and between home cooks and restaurants, 31 macro and micronutrients were compared between these groups using ANOVA and t-tests, respectively.

Results: 170 recipes have been standardized to date. Few overall differences were observed in the ingredients, food preparation methods, or nutritional composition of rural versus urban recipes, or between home and restaurants recipes.

Conclusions: Common Afro-Ecuadorian recipes were generally prepared similarly throughout rural and urban communities in Northwestern Ecuador. The final standardized recipes will be made publicly available through the USFQ website for the use of the Ecuadorian research community.

Funding Sources: The project was supported by the ‘EcoMiD’ (Enteropatógenos, Crecimiento, Microbioma, y Diarrea) cohort study [R01AI162867 to JNSE and KL; R01AI137679 to Benjamin Arnold] and the Universidad San Francisco de Quito [Project ID 17328 to NC].