Projects
ASSESSMENT AND IMPROVEMENT OF DIETARY INTAKE OF MICRONUTRIENTS (ZINC, IRON AND COPPER): A TRIAL OF COMMON BEANS (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) IN MAKUENI, KENYA. KU Leuven
Background: Under nutrition continues to be a challenge in Kenya with micronutrient deficiencies being prevalent. Legumes are affordable and very good sources of proteins, vitamins and minerals. Their consumption remains low, possibly due to concerns about flatulence, long cooking times and attitudes that view them as inferior foods. They are widely available in Kenya therefore promoting consumption of their improved products would have high ...
Evaluation of dietary practices and assessment of nutritional status and associated risk factors for metabolic syndrome in the young adult population of Rwanda Ghent University
Policy makers in Rwanda have recently highlighted the importance of promoting healthy diets and lifestyle in response to rapidly increasing rates of obesity. This project will provide evidence on shifts in diet and nutritional status in urban dwellers as compared to the traditional diet and lifestyle in rural areas as a basis for a targeted public health policy for Rwanda.
Human dietary exposure to mycotoxins in Zimbabwe and related risk assessment and management Ghent University
* Overview of mycotoxin occurrence in subsistence farmed maize from Zimbabwe.
* Risk evaluation of aflatoxin B1 and fumonisin B1 exposure through the consumption of subsistence
farmed maize and maize products.
* Overview of the subsistence farming and post-harvest practices and their effect on mycotoxin
contamination in maize grain.
* Recommendations for a regulatory framework for ...
Improving efficacy of dietary interventions: a quest for new methods KU Leuven
INTRODUCTION Measuring dietary intake remains challenging for both nutritional practitioners and researchers. To perform a successful dietary intervention however, it is crucial to assess dietary intake accurately and conveniently. While classic methods for dietary assessment are being used in research for years, they are known to have several limitations. Currently, there is an urgent need for new dietary assessment methods in order to meet ...
Improving standards and methods for capturing wild foods & neglected and underutilized species (NUS) in dietary surveys Ghent University
In low-resource settings, dietary assessment methods that generate simple indicators such as the Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MDD-W) that provide information on diet diversity, a key aspect of diet quality, can be adapted include the assessment of wild foodsU+2019 and NUSU+2019 contributions to diets of women of reproductive age. This can, in turn inform programming and policy decisions towards improving their nutrition status, such ...
Study design, data management, analysis and interpretation for a multi-country study to refine the minimum dietary diversity women (MDD-W) data collection tool Ghent University
Minimum dietary diversity for women of reproductive age (MDD-W) was validated as a population-level proxy of micronutrient adequacy, with indicator data collection proposed as either list-based or open recall. This study assessed the measurement agreement of list-based and open recall methods as compared to a reference method of individual quantitative dietary assessment for achieving MDD-W .
Dietary interventions for disorders of gut-brain interaction: FODMAPs and beyond FODMAPs KU Leuven
Two of the most common disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBI) are functional dyspepsia (FD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), affecting 15% of the population worldwide. A diet with established efficacy in IBS is the low Fermentable Oligo-, Di-, Monosaccharides and Polyols (FODMAP) diet. During my PhD, a blinded reintroduction phase identified individual FODMAP triggers and the efficacy of the diet in FD showed promising results. The diet ...