Mwale Mary Mabel*

Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives, Kilimo House, Nairobi, Kenya

*Corresponding Author: Mwale Mary Mabel, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives, Kilimo House, Nairobi, Kenya.

Received: May 02, 2022; Published:

Abstract

Work output is driven by energy supply from the food we eat. Manual workers are some of the most active people in our society and their ability to balance energy consumption and expenditure is crucial, especially for work productivity and nutritional health. However, studies on energy requirement for work productivity are limited. The objective of this study was to determine the correlation between the choice of the main carbohydrate staple and preference ranking by Very Active Manual Workers (VAMW) in Nairobi. Questionnaires were administered to 322 respondents categorized into three groups: VAMW, and moderately active civil servants (CS) and university students (US). Respondents were asked to state their main carbohydrate staple and rank six commonly consumed carbohydrate foods from most preferred to the least preferred. Ugali was ranked first with a mean rank value of 1.134 ± 0.492, followed by chapati with a mean rank of 2.588 ± 0.976, and the third was rice with a mean rank of 3.247 ± 1.242. Irish potato came fourth with a mean rank value of 4.299 ± 0.970, and bananas had a mean rank value of 4.588 ± 1.068. The “others” mixed category was least preferred, ranked sixth with a mean rank value of 5.165 ± 1.297, 95% confidence level. Analysis of Variance suggested a significant difference in preference ranking for different carbohydrate staples by the VAMW, F (0.05, 5,576), P < .0001. The pairwise comparison of mean ranks indicated a significant difference between the rank means of all pairs, but there was no significant difference between mean ranks of rice versus chapati, and Irish potatoes versus bananas. Correlation analysis revealed a very weak correlation between the preference ranking and occupation (activity level), r value 0.109 for all respondents, and r value 0.024 for VAMW. There was a moderate correlation between the main carbohydrate staple and preference ranking of all groups combined, r value 0.562; but r value 0.516 for VAMW; 0.598 for US; and 0.595 for CS. Regression analysis indicated the main staple was a good predictor of the preference ranking, 32.4%, F (6,303) = 24.167, p < .000. The hypothesis tested was that there is no correlation between the main carbohydrate staple and preference ranking by VAMW. Approximately 29.7% of the variation in the preference ranking was predicted by the main staple of VAMW compared to for 32.4% for all respondents combined. Only 29.7% of the variation in the preference ranking by VAMW was predicted by the main staple, suggesting other factors contribute to variation in preference ranking by VAMW.

Keywords: “Ugali,” Preference Ranking; Main Carbohydrate Staple; Very Active Manual Workers

References

1. Breslin AS. “An evolutionary perspective on food and human taste”. Current Biology9 (2013).
2. Kwon DY. “What is Ethnic Food?” Journal of Ethnic Foods1 (2015).
3. Luca F Perry G and Di Rienzo A. “Evolutionary adaptation to dietary changes”. Annual Review of Nutrition 1 (2010): 291-314.
4. Leslie CA. “The Evolution of Human Nutrition” (2013).
5. Malimi K., et al. “Acceptability Assessment of Ugali Made from Blends of High Quality Cassava Flour and Cereal Flours in the Lake Zone, Tanzania”. Asian Food Science Journal 1 (2018): 1-11.
6. Jetter K and Cassady D. “The availability and cost of healthiers food alternatives”. American Journal of Preventive Medicine (2006): 38-44.
7. Kawamura T., et al. “The factors affecting estimation of carbon content of meals in carbohydrtae counting”. Clinical Pediatric Endocrinology 4 (2015): 153-165.
8. Westerterp KR. “Exercise, energy expenditure and energy balance, as measured with doubly labelled water”. Nutrition Society1 (2018): 4-10.
9. Coyle E., et al. “Muscle glycogen utilization during prolonged strenous exercise when fed carbohydrate”. Journal of Applied Physiology 1 (1986): 165-172.
10. Long LM. “Cultural politics in culinary tourism with ethnic foods”. Revista de Administração de Empresas (2018).
11. Government of Kenya. “Kenya Peoples and cultures”. MEAC (2019).
12. Ma G. “Food, eating behavior, and culture in Chinese society”. Journal of Ethnic Foods 4 (2015): 195-199.
13. Wanjala W., et al. “Indigenous technical knowledge and formulations of thick (ugali) and thin (uji) porridges consumed in Kenya”. African Journal of Food Science12 (2016): 385-396.
14. “The history of Kenya’s staple dish, Ugali dating back to the 19^th century”. See Africa Today (2019).
15. Kipsang W. “Stern Warning to Millers on Sh 2b Unga Subsidy scheme”. Kenya (2017).
16. Mbilu S. “Unga Protesters”. Kenya: Citizen TV (2011).
17. “Unga revolution in Kenya”. Kenya: The New Humanitarian (2011).
18. Amone C. “We are strong because of our millet bread: Staple fods and the growth of ethnic identities in Uganda”. Trames2 (2014): 159-172.
19. Kanter M. “High-Quality carbobydrates and physical performance”. Nutrition Today 1 (2018): 35-39.
20. Cohen L., et al. “Research Methods in Education”. New York (2007).
21. Bluman AG. “Elementary statistics: A Step by Step Approach, sixth edition”. New York: McGraw-Hill Education (2014).

Citation

Citation: Mwale Mary Mabel. “Assessing the Correlation Between the Choice of Main Carbohydrate Staple and the Preference Ranking by Very Active Manual Workers". Acta Scientific Nutritional Health 6.7 (2022): 00-00.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Mwale Mary Mabel. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.