Browsing by Author "Asma’ Ali"
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- PublicationDiet Quality and Nutritional Status of Orang Asli (Aboriginal) Children of Cameron Highlands’ Resettlement Villages, Malaysia(2021)
;Foo Gaik Zhen ;Asma’ Ali ;Hayati Mohd Yusof ;Khairil Shazmin Kamarudin ;Noor Salihah ZakariaAhmad Ali ZainuddinDue to poverty, Orang Asli, Peninsular Malaysia’s indigenous people, are vulnerable to insufficient food consumption, which results in undernutrition and poor diet quality among children. Although the government has launched relocation programs to enhance Orang Asli’s living conditions, nothing is known regarding their repercussion on children’s nutritional status and diet quality. This study enrolled 120 Orang Asli children between the ages of 6 and 9 who lived in resettlement settlements in the Cam eron Highlands. The purpose of this study was to determine the nutritional status and diet quality of these children. The children were chosen using a consecutive sampling technique and were chosen based on their availability and willingness to reply. After obtaining informed consent from their parents or caregivers, they were interviewed for sociodemographic information, dietary consumption, and nutritional status assessment. Their parents/caregivers assisted with the assessment. The dietary recall was gathered using a two-day 24-hour dietary recall form, and diet quality was measured using the Healthy Eating Index-1995 (HEI), whereas nutritional status was calculated using body mass index for age (BMI-for-age). Findings showed that Orang Asli children consumed adequate amount of energy and macronutrients but lacked micronutrients (calcium, Vitamin D, A, and C intakes). The mean overall HEI score was 58.9, indicating that they needed to improve their dietary intake. In comparison to other dietary groups, grains had the highest mean HEI score (9.8±0.7). The Orang Asli children scored highly on the fat component score (8.5±2.9). Orang Asli children consumed about maximum amount of salt score (9.4±2.4). Meat and milk had comparable mean composite scores (3.9±3.0). Fruit (2.6±2.7) and vegetable intake (1.2±2.0) had the lowest mean score of any food group. Orang Asli children also consumed a limited variety of foods score (2.4±4.3). Around 68.3% of children have a normal BMI for their age, followed by those who are undernourished (17.5%) and those who are overnourished (14.1%). There is no evidence of an association between diet quality and nutritional status in this study (r = -0.102, p = 0.267). Taken together, resettlement programs established by Malaysia’s Department of Aboriginal Affairs (JAKOA) may not substantially increase the Orang Asli community’s dietary quality, particularly among children. As a result, there is a clear need for a nutrition education module that would assist Orang Asli parents in preparing more healthy diets for their children. - PublicationExploration of the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) Approach in Synthesizing the Diet Quality of the Malaysian Population(2021)
;Asma’ Ali ;Barrie M. MargettsAhmad Ali Zainuddin(1) Background: One of the most main dietary assessments is through a posteriori application. Although extensive research has incorporated dietary assessment of a population through a posteriori application, this study is the first to examine the Malaysian population and use an a posteriori method and principal component analysis (PCA) to assess the dietary patterns of the Malaysian population. The correlation between all dietary patterns derived via PCA and selected nutrient intake were determined in this sample of study; (2) Methods: A total of 3063 respondents (18 to 59 years old) covering Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, and Sarawak, participated in this study. PCA was applied on the food frequency questionnaire collected from the respondents, and descriptive statistics and PCA were performed using SPSS version 21; (3) Results: Six patterns were identified: “traditional”, “ prudent”, “ modern”, “western”, “Chinese”, and “combination” diets. All together, these six patterns were able to explain 45.9% of the total variability. Few components derived from the factor loadings showed positive association with several nutrient markers. The traditional dietary pattern showed a moderate, positive correlation with total protein and total sugar intake, there was a significant moderate correlation between the prudent dietary pattern and dietary fibre, and there was a moderate positive association between the Chinese dietary pattern and total energy; and (4) Conclusions: The exploration of the PCA approach above may provide justification for assessment of dietary patterns rather than reliance on single nutrients or foods to identify potential connections to overall nutritional wellbeing as well as to explore the diet–disease relationship. However, study of pattern analysis must be conducted among the Malaysian population to produce validity and reproducibility for this dietary approach in light of the numerous methodological issues that arise when performing PCA.