Consumption of traditional cowpea-based dishes in urban and rural areas of South Benin

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Regular consumption of legumes is recommended worldwide for its environmental and health benefits. Cowpea, the most-frequently consumed pulse in West African countries, is rich in nutrients and health-promoting bioactive compounds. In southern Benin, a wide variety of cowpea-based dishes are observed.

To quantify the consumption of cowpea-based dishes by the Beninese population, a one-week retrospective Food Frequency Questionnaire and a food atlas were used. Participants were 1217 adults (19-65 years) from three urban or rural areas in southern Benin : 641 adults in Cotonou (surveyed in 2017), and 576 in Adjohoun and Allada (288 respondents per rural area, surveyed in 2019).
Data were collected on digital tablets using SurveyCTO™. The FFQ included two parts. In the first part, data on the household head’s socio-professional characteristics, household income and expenses, household belongings, and housing characteristics were collected to characterize the household socio-economic index. In the second part, data on the consumption of cowpea-based dishes and the estimation of the quantities consumed over one week were recorded. During the FFQ-based interviews, general questions about the consumption of various legume species were first asked. This was followed by questions on the cowpea-based dish types consumed by the respondent during the previous week (7-day recall). For each cowpea-based dish, we recorded how many times it was consumed, the last place of consumption, and the quantity usually consumed (estimated using the food atlas).

The research protocols describing all procedures that implicated human participants in Cotonou and in the rural areas were submitted to the Benin National Committee of Ethics for Health Re-search, and approved. The clearance numbers are N° 29 (2017) and N°14 (2019) for the survey in Cotonou and in the rural areas respectively.
Informed Consent Statement: All respondents gave their signed consent to participate before the start of each interview. The respondents’ anonymity was respected, as stated in the consent form.