INCIDENCE OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY IN ADULT INDIAN POPULATION REPORTED USING A WEB-BASED SERVICE PROVIDER WITH PICTORIAL PORTION SIZES OF INDIAN CUISINES

A comprehensive dietary assessment tool to capture data on a wide variety of food and nutrient intakes across different regions and ethnic groups is lacking in India. In order to measure the nutrient intake, an estimation of amount of food consumed is required. Underreporting and over reporting is often seen in dietary surveys. Conducting FFQ’s and 24- hr recalls in large sample dietary surveys is expensive and time consuming. In addition to this correct estimation of portion size presents a major problem. Everything depends on respondents memory and the interviewer’s imagination. Larger portions of food may contribute to excess of energy intake and greater obesity. Online self-administered dietary assessment tools can reduce the burden on both the interviewer and the respondents. Since a picture speaks a thousand words, a web-based service provider ‘Nutrispoon’ was developed to include pictorial portion size of 316 standardised recipes commonly consumed in Indian diet. The website was used to gather dietary intake of individuals using these pictorial portion sizes of standardised recipes. 24 hr recall method was employed to gather this data. The mean BMI of respondents was 23.01 ± 4.48 kg/m2, with significant difference (p<0.05) between the BMI of male and female respondents. Overweight and Obesity was highly prevalent in the respondents of the present study, with 17% respondents being overweight and 25.2% being preobese. Positive and significant correlation between BMI and nutrient intake suggested that as the nutrient intake increases BMI also increases.