Measuring Cowpea Consumption
Location: West Africa
Contact: Dr. Mark Manary, Washington University in St. Louis, manary@kids.wustl.edu
A mother and her child in Ghana.
At present, there is no reliable and convenient way to measure the quantity of cowpea consumed in an individual. This limits our ability to assess the effectiveness of projects which promote legume consumption as supplements or through nutrition education as well as compliance in clinical trials. Without reliable data as to the extent cowpeas are consumed, it is difficult to commit the resources necessary to take projects to scale in developing countries with any certainty. This project, Measuring Cowpea Consumption, will consist of field work that be conducted in the upper northwest region of Ghana by Dr. Mark Manary and will develop a method using a urinary biomarker unique to cowpea to confirm dietary exposure and quantify levels of dietary intake for children and adults.
The objective of this project is to identify a novel set of dietary biomarkers that will measure cowpea consumption, be free from participant recall bias, and serve to quantify legume intake.
Establishing proof of concept for this novel measurement of dietary cowpea intake will be a substantial step forward in an objective method for measuring compliance and intake of cowpea across geographic regions and populations. This approach is an initial activity because this innovative measurement has the potential to benefit future nutrition and education related studies by offering a quantitative measure of intake, reducing the time, effort, and inconsistencies related to subjective dietary intake methods, and advance our understanding of the relationship between diet and health.
This novel method to measure intake of the cowpea can be utilized in all competitively awarded legume research activities that pertain to educational efforts as well clinical trials that rely on compliance with cowpea intake. This study design, methodology and analytical approach may also be applied to other legumes of interest to the Legume Systems Innovation Lab.
Both women and youth will be the target groups for biomarker development, and this technology will be used to determine gender and age differences, as well as gaps in household food insecurity. This method will be a huge step forward for the nutrition community, who will then be able to directly link cowpea consumption with growth and development. This project will engage University of Ghana faculty and students, allowing for increased experience with integrating legume agriculture and nutrition extension programs.