Nutritional Composition of Soft Drinks and Chips Consumed by School-aged Children in Dakar (Senegal)

Abstract

In Senegal, social-economic changes have likely affected dietary habits. As in many parts of the world, Senegalese children consume significant amounts of food between main meals (snacking) with a wide consumption of soft drinks and chips products which can have negative effects on children sanitary health. This study aims at investigating some dietary habits of Senegalese school-age children and the nutritional composition of some snacking products to alleviate nutrition and health issues caused by food quality. A survey was carried out in schools in some districts of Dakar and allowed to identify the most consumed soft drinks and chips from which samples were taken and subjected to physicochemical analysis. Snacking was a common habit in Senegalese school-age children with 68% declaring regular consumption of chips and 88% that of sweetened drinks. The main component in soft drinks after water was carbohydrates with contents ranging between 6.50 ± 0.27 and 13.75 ± 0.01% and energy values varying between 26.00 ± 1.09 and 54.99 ± 0.04 kcal/100g. Some minerals such as magnesium, sodium, potassium and calcium were also present with levels comprised between 4.35 ± 0.15 mg/100g to 167.41 ± 9.50 mg/100g. The ranges were: Mg (8.26 ± 0.23-12.11 ± 0.84), Na (4.35 ± 0.15-8.18 ± 0.10), K (4.50 ± 0.35-8.18 ± 0.52) and Ca (120.51 ± 10.90-167.41 ± 9.50). The macronutrients in chips were proteins (5.95 ± 0.10 - 10.70 ± 0.05%), fat (19.86 ± 0.65 - 35.94 ± 0.01%), carbohydrates (47.43 ± 0.44 - 64.65 ± 0.78%) and dietary fiber (1.55 ± 0.10 - 2.13 ± 0.23%). Sodium and potassium were also present with levels of 580.04 ± 23.98 to 692.97 ± 40.78 mg/100g for sodium and 159.84 ± 6.86 to 318.57 ± 1.09 mg/100g for potassium. The results of this study can help orient the strategies to put into effect in order to inform children and their parents on the best diets to adopt for a healthy and quality life.