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1. Food Culture and the Health status of the
people in Bangladesh
Asma Habib Riya
Subject: Preventive Medicine
Capital Medical University, Beijing , China

2. Bangladeshi
food
• Bangladesh is famous for its delicious food
and deserts. The specialty of bangladeshi
food is they are spicy. Rice is the
mainbangladeshi food . Rice , fish curry
and lentil is the most common traditional
bangladeshi food for general people.
Bangladesh is also famous for deserts. You
will find dozens of sweets, rice cakes, rice
puddings and many other deserts in
bangladesh, mostly made from rice and
cow milk. It is a paradise for food lovers .

3. Distinguising features of bangladeshi food
Breakfast :
Porotha :
Porotha is an unleavened flatbread in Bangladesh made
by baking flour dough on a frying pan and finishing off
with shallow frying. It is layered by coating with oil and
folding repeatedly using a laminated dough technique. It
is the most popular Bangladeshi food for breakfast in the
restaurants, which is normally eaten with vaji ( mixed
vegetables) or lentil or a mixture of these two together,
and with fried eggs.

4. Bangladeshi main dishes are:
1. Kachchi biriyani- special bangladeshi food
• Kachchi biryani is usually a featured dish for weddings and
social gatherings and celebrations. Layers of meat, rice, and
potatoes are infused with warm and delectable blends of
aromatic spices to prepare kachchi biryani.
• The term ” kachchi” means raw referring to the biryani
ingredients being combined raw in layers instead of first
cooking meat or rice separately. Traditionally, kachchi biryani
is cooked in a clay oven and the cooking pot is usually sealed
with flour dough to allow the biryani to cook in its own
steam.
• Kachchi is the most popular formal food.

5. 2. Bhuna khichuri
• Bhuna khichuri means browning,
mixing or deep-frying spices with
rice and lentil. It is the richer
version of the plain old khichuri.
Bhuna means braised, so this dish
is kind od slow-cooked to infuse
the flavors and the spices as
opposed to the simple process of
cooking everything together
during the other times.
• Bhuna khichuri would be the
number 3 authentic Bangladeshi
food.

6. 3. Patla kichuri – romantic
bangladeshi food
• Patla khichuri is a traditional
homemade food and not served on
the restaurants. Only the bhuna
khichuri is served on the
restaurants. The only chance of
tasting patla khichuri is if you are
invited to a local's house during
rainy day of monsoon, or in a
village house during Eid.

7. 4. Morog polao ( chicken
Pilaf)
• Morog polao is very rich flavorful dish
where chicken and rice is cooked with
spices, yogurt and clarified butter(
ghee) . Nowadays to make it little less
rich , oil and ghee are used together.

8. 5. Rice with curry, vorta , vaji and daal-
everyday bangladeshi food:
Plain rice is the main food in bangladesh . It is served with different fish and meat
curry, vorta( mash) of different vegetables and fish , bhaji( fried) of different
vegetables, and patla daal (lentil soup). There is a proverb in bangladesh- ’’ rice
and fish makes the bengali people’’. From this you can understand that fish and
rice is the most popular food in bangladesh.

9. Bangladeshi Evening snacks
1. Grilled chicken with naan roti

10. 2. Haleem
• Haleem is basically spicy lentil
soup. Haleem is made of wheat,
barley, meat, different types of
lentils, spices and sometimes rice
is also used.

11. • Sheek kabab is beef or mutton cut in
cubic pieces, marinated for a long time
with spices, put together on a skewer
and Bar-b-Qed. The main trick of melt
in mouth kabab is how to marinate and
for how long to marinate it. They are
marinated for 3 hours to 2 days.
3. Sheek Kabab

12. Bangladeshi street food
Fuchka
• Fuchka is the most popular street
food in Bangladesh, served mainly
in the evening. It has a unique
spicey , sour, crispy taste. It
consists of a round , hollow puri,
fried crisp and filled with a
mixture of flavoured water,
tamarind chutney , chili, chaat
masala ,potato, onion and
chickpeas. Fuchkas used a mixture
of boiled mashed potatoes as the
filling and is tang rather than
sweetish wile the water is sour
and spicy

13. Bangladeshi Dessert
It is a healthy low-fat dessert.

14. Bangladeshi drinks
• Borhani :
It is a traditional drinks which
balances the spiciness of the main
food and it has ingredients like mint,
cumin, yougurt. It also helps
digestions

15. Bangladeshi Food Nutrition
Most bangladeshi food depends on how it was cooked and the
ingreadients put into dish
Most Bangladeshi food has all the food groups and has lot of nutrition
value to it. The basic Bangladeshi dish is frequently baked or rosted
The odd deep fried is also avaiable. On a nutritional level, bangladeshi
food is relatively healthy .

16. The most prevalent health problems that are associated
with nutritional status of bangladeshi people
Although Bangladesh has made considerable progress in food (cereal) production, household
and individual dietary diversity, child and maternal nutritional status continue to pose as
challenges. The consumption of an ill balanced diet is known to play a key role in
malnutrition and as a risk factor in chronic disease. Chronic diseases are largely
preventable. Although, more research is needed on some aspects of the mechanisms that
link diet to health, available evidence provides a basis to justify taking preventive action.

17. Current
nutrition
situation
• Among the Bangladeshi population, 22%
children are born with low birth weight
(LBW), over a third of children suffer from
protein energy malnutrition: stunting 41%;
wasting 16% and underweight 36%. Just
over a fourth of women have chronic
energy deficiency and half of them are
deficient in zinc and iodine. About 8.4
million people are reportedly suffering
from diabetes mellitus.

19. Malnutrition
• Malnutrition is a condition that results
from eating a diet in which one or more
nutrients are either not enough or are
too much such that the diet causes
health problems. It may involve calories,
protein, carbohydrates, fat, vitamins or
minerals.
• Bangladesh suffers from some of the
most severe malnutrition problems.
• Malnutrition results from the
convergence of poverty, inequitable food
distribution, disease, illiteracy, rapid
population growth and environmental
risks, cultural and social inequities etc.

24. Nutritional
Specific nutritional problems in the country are:
Protein-Energy Malnutrition (PEM): the main cause
of it is insufficient food intake
Nutritional anemia: the most frequent cause is iron
deficiency and less frequent follate and vitamin B12
deficiency
Xerophthalmia ( dryness of eyes): the chief cause is
nutritional deficiency of Vit-A
Iodine Deficiency Disorders: Goiter and other iodine
deficiency disorders.

25. Diabetes mellitus
• Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic
disorders of carbohydrate metabolism
characterized by high blood glucose levels
(hyperglycemia) and usually resulting from
insufficient production of the hormone insulin (type
1 diabetes) or an ineffective response of cells to
insulin (type 2 diabetes)
• Bangladeshi people consume carbohydrate a lot
such as rice, sugar etc.

26. Coronary artery disease ( CAD )
• Diet is an important risk factor in coronary heart
disease. Food-related risk factors include obesity, high
blood pressure, uncontrolled diabetes and a diet high in
saturated fats. A low-saturated fat, high-fibre, high
plant food diet can substantially reduce the risk of
developing heart disease
• CAD is highly prevalent in Bangladesh. At the advent of
the new millennium, we are really unclear about the
real situation. Along with the classical risk factors,
genetic make-up and environmental factors unique to
our population may exist. We have no more time to
lose. Large-scale, preferably, nation-wide survey and
clinical research should be conducted to determine the
different aspects of CAD in Bangladesh. The information
available thereby, would help to formulate national
policy to combat the deadly epidemic more efficiently
in future

27. Advantages and disadvantages of
bangladeshi’s food culture from a health
point of view
• Advantages
• A positive word about our traditional cuisine is
that it is not only tasty, but healthy as well. Be
it the fish, or the way rice is traditionally
cooked, or the numerous vegetable dishes in
the Bengali menu, or the proteins from lentil
soup or meat - it is of no doubt that the food of
this land is very nutritious.
• Skim milk: Milk from which the cream has been
removed. Sometimes, only half cream is
removed, resulting in semi skimmed milk.
Skimmed milk contains 0-0.5% of fat. Skim milk
is recommended for people who are trying to
lose weight or maintain a healthy weight.

28. Disadvantages
• Sugar is a concentrated form of energy. Sugar consists of
simple carbohydrates. Sugar is mainly used to sweeten food
and beverages like tea, coffee and desserts. A high intake of
sugar may also contribute to excess energy intake leading to
obesity, which in turn is a risk factor for coronary heart
disease and diabetes mellitus. There is a link between sugar
consumption and dental caries. Children who eat sugary foods
often have a lower appetite and are prone to tooth decay.
Honey and molasses also provide sugar but are better for
health than refined sugar. Less than 10% of total energy
should be provided from free sugars.
• Sodium is found in most foods as sodium chloride, generally
known as 'salt'. Sodium is an essential nutrient for normal
cellular metabolism. Dietary salt contain 97 to 99% sodium
chloride. One teaspoon of salt provides around 400 mg of
sodium. It is also present in the diet as sodium bicarbonate
(baking soda) and as monosodium glutamate in processed
foods, in additives such as sodium phosphate, sodium
carbonate and sodium benzoate. Too much or too little salt in
the diet can lead to muscle cramps, dizziness, or electrolyte
disturbance. A high salt intake is a major risk factor for
hypertension or elevated blood pressure. It is estimated that
Bangladeshi people consume about 10g salt (2 tea spoons) per
capita per day. Foods that are rich sources of sodium include
salted Hilsha, dry fish, cheese, table salt, pickles, fish sauce,
ketch up, soya sauce, chips and wafers.
• Too much Oily food is also harmful .

29. Goals of dietary guidelines
Improve
Improve nutritional
status of the
Bangladeshi population
and prevent nutritional
deficiency diseases.
Ensure
Ensure adequate
nutritional status of
pregnant and lactating
women.
Prevent and control
Prevent and control
chronic diet-related
disorders.
Maintain
Maintain health of the
elderly and increase life
expectancy

30. Food that have caused trouble for
Bangladeshi people
• Cholesterol: Cholesterol is a component of cell membranes and used to
produce hormones and bile acids. Cholesterol is present only in animal
sources of food (meat, sausages, bacon, eggs, whole milk, cheese,
butter, liver etc.). The human body can produce sufficient cholesterol to
meet biological requirements. Excess cholesterol gets deposited inside
blood vessels leading to atherosclerosis.
• Curd The part of milk that coagulates when the milk sours or is treated
with acid or enzymes. Curd is defined as a product obtained by souring
boiled or pasteurized milk naturally, by harmless lactic acid bacteria or
other bacterial cultures. It may contain a wide variety of lactic acid
bacteria, which are not defined qualitatively/quantitatively. In curd and
buttermilk, most of the lactose is converted to lactic acid/acetic acid by
the enzymes that are found in fermenting bacteria. Hence these
products are easier to digest.

31. • Instead of normal cooking oil its better to use fish oil
• Obesity: Obesity is an abnormal accumulation of body fat. Women with over 30%
body fat and men with over 25% body fat are considered obese. Gynoid (female)
obesity is known as lower obesity and pear- shape obesity. Android (male)
obesity is known as abdominal, central, upper and apple- shape obesity and is
associated with a greater risk of NCD than gynoid obesity. BMI is one of the
indicators used in the assessment of obesity; BMI over 30 is considered as
obesity
• Saturated fat: Saturated fatty acids have no double bonds between the
individual carbon atoms of the fatty acid chain. Most fats derived from animal
sources (meat and meat products, milk and milk products) are saturated fats.
Hidden saturated fats are found in cakes, biscuits, pastries, other bakery
products, fried foods and chocolates. Eating foods high in saturated fats can
lead to elevated cholesterol levels in the blood and increase the risk of
atherosclerosis including heart disease.

32. • Traditional healing was widely practiced as the means of primary
healthcare in rural areas of Bangladesh, especially among the people
with low socioeconomic status. The extent of services showed no
decline with the advancement of modern medical sciences; rather it
has increased with the passage of time.
Conclusion