Dietary diversity is associated with child nutritional status: evidence from 11 demographic and health surveys

Simple indicators reflecting diet quality for young children are needed both for programs and in some research contexts. Measures of dietary diversity are relatively simple and were shown to be associated with nutrient adequacy and nutritional status. However, dietary diversity also tends to increas...

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Main Authors: Arimond, Mary, Ruel, Marie T.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2004
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/157622
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author Arimond, Mary
Ruel, Marie T.
author_browse Arimond, Mary
Ruel, Marie T.
author_facet Arimond, Mary
Ruel, Marie T.
author_sort Arimond, Mary
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Simple indicators reflecting diet quality for young children are needed both for programs and in some research contexts. Measures of dietary diversity are relatively simple and were shown to be associated with nutrient adequacy and nutritional status. However, dietary diversity also tends to increase with income and wealth; thus, the association between dietary diversity and child nutrition may be confounded by socioeconomic factors. We used data from 11 recent Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) to examine the association between dietary diversity and height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ) for children 6–23 mo old, while controlling for household wealth/welfare and several other potentially confounding factors. Bivariate associations between dietary diversity and HAZ were observed in 9 of the 11 countries. Dietary diversity remained significant as a main effect in 7 countries in multivariate models, and interacted significantly with other factors (e.g., child age, breast-feeding status, urban/rural location) in 3 of the 4 remaining countries. Thus, dietary diversity was significantly associated with HAZ, either as a main effect or in an interaction, in all but one of the countries analyzed. These findings suggest that there is an association between child dietary diversity and nutritional status that is independent of socioeconomic factors, and that dietary diversity may indeed reflect diet quality. Before dietary diversity can be recommended for widespread use as an indicator of diet quality, additional research is required to confirm and clarify relations between various dietary diversity indicators and nutrient intake, adequacy, and density, for children with differing dietary patterns. -- Authors' Abstract
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spelling CGSpace1576222025-04-08T18:31:30Z Dietary diversity is associated with child nutritional status: evidence from 11 demographic and health surveys Arimond, Mary Ruel, Marie T. nutritional status health surveys diet children nutrition malnutrition Simple indicators reflecting diet quality for young children are needed both for programs and in some research contexts. Measures of dietary diversity are relatively simple and were shown to be associated with nutrient adequacy and nutritional status. However, dietary diversity also tends to increase with income and wealth; thus, the association between dietary diversity and child nutrition may be confounded by socioeconomic factors. We used data from 11 recent Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) to examine the association between dietary diversity and height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ) for children 6–23 mo old, while controlling for household wealth/welfare and several other potentially confounding factors. Bivariate associations between dietary diversity and HAZ were observed in 9 of the 11 countries. Dietary diversity remained significant as a main effect in 7 countries in multivariate models, and interacted significantly with other factors (e.g., child age, breast-feeding status, urban/rural location) in 3 of the 4 remaining countries. Thus, dietary diversity was significantly associated with HAZ, either as a main effect or in an interaction, in all but one of the countries analyzed. These findings suggest that there is an association between child dietary diversity and nutritional status that is independent of socioeconomic factors, and that dietary diversity may indeed reflect diet quality. Before dietary diversity can be recommended for widespread use as an indicator of diet quality, additional research is required to confirm and clarify relations between various dietary diversity indicators and nutrient intake, adequacy, and density, for children with differing dietary patterns. -- Authors' Abstract 2004-10 2024-10-24T12:51:04Z 2024-10-24T12:51:04Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/157622 en Limited Access Elsevier Arimond, Mary; Ruel, Marie T. 2004. Dietary diversity is associated with child nutritional status: evidence from 11 demographic and health surveys. Journal of Nutrition 134(10): 2579-2585. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/134.10.2579
spellingShingle nutritional status
health
surveys
diet
children
nutrition
malnutrition
Arimond, Mary
Ruel, Marie T.
Dietary diversity is associated with child nutritional status: evidence from 11 demographic and health surveys
title Dietary diversity is associated with child nutritional status: evidence from 11 demographic and health surveys
title_full Dietary diversity is associated with child nutritional status: evidence from 11 demographic and health surveys
title_fullStr Dietary diversity is associated with child nutritional status: evidence from 11 demographic and health surveys
title_full_unstemmed Dietary diversity is associated with child nutritional status: evidence from 11 demographic and health surveys
title_short Dietary diversity is associated with child nutritional status: evidence from 11 demographic and health surveys
title_sort dietary diversity is associated with child nutritional status evidence from 11 demographic and health surveys
topic nutritional status
health
surveys
diet
children
nutrition
malnutrition
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/157622
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