Health Impacts of Street Vended Fruits

Summary

This study will employ a randomized controlled intervention design to evaluate the health impacts of consuming fresh-cut street-vended fruits, focusing on microbial contamination and gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms. A total of 300 participants will be recruited and divided into treatment (consuming guava, pineapple, or watermelon) and control groups (no fruit consumption). Fruit samples will be analyzed for microbial contamination, including S. aureus and E. coli, using standard microbiological and molecular techniques. Data on GI symptoms will be collected through questionnaires and analyzed using statistical methods, such as Chi-square tests, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, and Cox proportional hazards regression. Spearman correlation will identify associations between bacterial presence and specific symptoms. Ethical approval will be obtained, and participant safety will be prioritized. Analytical tools, including IBM SPSS, RStudio, and PyCharm, will be utilized for the analyses.

Conditions

• Gastrointestinal Diseases
• Foodborne Diseases
• Microbial Contamination
• Street Vended Foods
• S. Aureus
• Escherichia Coli
• Total Viable Count

Interventions

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Fresh-Cut Guava Consumption

Participants eat a defined portion of guava.

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Fresh-Cut Pineapple Consumption

Participants consumed fresh-cut pineapple purchased from street vendors. Health outcomes, including potential microbial contamination and GI symptoms, were assessed for five days after consumption.

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Fresh-Cut Watermelon Consumption

Fresh-Cut Watermelon Consumption Description: Participants consumed fresh-cut watermelon obtained from street vendors. GI symptoms and microbial contamination effects were monitored for five days following consumption.

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Fresh-Cut Guava Consumption (With Gastric Acidity)

Same as intervention 2, but in participants with acidity

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Fresh-Cut Pineapple Consumption (With Gastric Acidity)

Same as intervention 3, but in participants with acidity.

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Fresh-Cut Watermelon Consumption (With Gastric Acidity)

Same as intervention 4, but in participants with acidity.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Bangladesh Agricultural University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Md. Ariful Islam, PhD · Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

DIAGNOSTIC

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-03-06

Primary Completion

2025-03-19

Completion

2025-03-19

Countries

• Bangladesh

Study Locations