STANDARDIZATION OF LOCAL UTENSILS FOR FOOD PORTION SIZE ESTIMATION IN A CITY FROM ECUADORIAN ANDES

Introduction: Estimation of food portion size, is an essential item of an accurate nutritional evaluation, whether in individuals or populations. To select an adequate tool for estimate food quantity consumed should be according to common local resources used on the population studied. Nowadays, in Cuenca-Ecuador, there's not an objective tool to get food quantity intake. Objectives: The objective of this work is to standardized local utensils as instruments for food portion size estimation in Cuenca-Ecuador. Methods: Based on the criteria of experts, common local recipes were selected and classified by their consistency in a) liquids, represented by water; b) semiliquid, constituted by cauliflower soup and oats beverage; c) soft solid, represented by cooked rice; and d) dense solid, constituted by jelly. Local representative utensils were used to measure the mass, volume, and density of each item classified. These measurements were performed according to food consistency and the most common cookware where the food is served. Each cookware was marked until the conventionally considered capacity. To obtain the mass, the served food was weighed in grams on a digital scale. The volume of liquids and semiliquids was got by placing the amount of food in the utensil into a volumetric test tube and was listed in milliliters. To measure the volume of solids, the Archimedes' principle was applied. Finally, to obtain the food density, the formula where the density is equal to mass over volume was used. Results: A total of 24 utensils were part of local standardized kits, including plates, spoons, mugs, cups, and glasses with different diameters. The mass, volume, and density of 24 utensils for liquid foods were obtained, as well as of 19 utensils for semiliquids, and of 14 utensils for soft or dense solids. Conclusions: Local representative utensils were standardized in order to help healthcare professionals to improve the accuracy of food intake estimation in any dietary evaluation method and work in sustainable politics that consider the standardization method as part of the evaluation per population.