Nutrition and dietary quality in Sri Lanka: Insights from the 2024-2025 BRIGHT survey
Key findings and policy implications • Dietary quality in Sri Lanka – defined in terms of consumption levels of different healthy food groups – falls well short of the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health’s 2021 Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDG) targets, with clear imbalances across food groups. • Heavy...
| Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | Brief |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
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International Food Policy Research Institute
2025
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| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178184 |
| _version_ | 1855519128102633472 |
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| author | Tinneberg, Pia Headey, Derek D. Comstock, Andrew Ecker, Olivier Marshall, Quinn Sitisekara, Hasara Silva, Renuka Hülsen, Vivien Munasinghe, Dilusha Ranucci, Immacolata Sabai, Moe Stifel, Elizabeth van Asselt, Joanna Weerasinghe, Krishani |
| author_browse | Comstock, Andrew Ecker, Olivier Headey, Derek D. Hülsen, Vivien Marshall, Quinn Munasinghe, Dilusha Ranucci, Immacolata Sabai, Moe Silva, Renuka Sitisekara, Hasara Stifel, Elizabeth Tinneberg, Pia Weerasinghe, Krishani van Asselt, Joanna |
| author_facet | Tinneberg, Pia Headey, Derek D. Comstock, Andrew Ecker, Olivier Marshall, Quinn Sitisekara, Hasara Silva, Renuka Hülsen, Vivien Munasinghe, Dilusha Ranucci, Immacolata Sabai, Moe Stifel, Elizabeth van Asselt, Joanna Weerasinghe, Krishani |
| author_sort | Tinneberg, Pia |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Key findings and policy implications
• Dietary quality in Sri Lanka – defined in terms of consumption levels of different healthy food groups – falls well short of the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health’s 2021 Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDG) targets, with clear imbalances across food groups.
• Heavy dependence on starchy staples. Starchy foods dense in calories but sparse in nutrients provide over 60% of total energy consumption, highlighting a strong over-consumption of rice.
• Low consumption of nutrient-rich foods. Intakes of fruits, dark green leafy vegetables (DGLVs), and legumes are at only about one-third of the recommended levels.
• Some households report zero consumption of healthy food groups. More than 30% of households report zero consumption of dairy foods in the past 7 days, while 15% report zero consumption of dark green leafy vegetables, and 5% zero fruit, indicating that important foods are absent from many household diets.
• Multidimensional dietary deprivation. Nearly all Sri Lankan households are deprived in at least one food group. A typical deprived household falls below the reference threshold in six to seven of eight food groups and consumes only about 37% of the recommended amounts for the foods in which consumption is lower than recommended.
• Significant dietary inequality across sectors. Dietary deprivation is most acute in the estate sector, while rural and urban areas fare moderately better.
• There is a clear need to promote healthy dietary diversification, especially higher consumption of fruits, legumes, vegetables and dairy, while moderating excess consumption of starchy staples.
• Institutionalize regular monitoring of diet deprivation, using the Reference Diet Deprivation (ReDD) index and other dietary indicators to guide targeted nutrition interventions.
• Support further research on the drivers of dietary patterns in Sri Lanka to better understand its determinants and differences between sectors. |
| format | Brief |
| id | CGSpace178184 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| publisherStr | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1781842025-11-26T02:04:03Z Nutrition and dietary quality in Sri Lanka: Insights from the 2024-2025 BRIGHT survey Tinneberg, Pia Headey, Derek D. Comstock, Andrew Ecker, Olivier Marshall, Quinn Sitisekara, Hasara Silva, Renuka Hülsen, Vivien Munasinghe, Dilusha Ranucci, Immacolata Sabai, Moe Stifel, Elizabeth van Asselt, Joanna Weerasinghe, Krishani nutrition diet quality nutrient intake health diets nutritive value surveys Key findings and policy implications • Dietary quality in Sri Lanka – defined in terms of consumption levels of different healthy food groups – falls well short of the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health’s 2021 Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDG) targets, with clear imbalances across food groups. • Heavy dependence on starchy staples. Starchy foods dense in calories but sparse in nutrients provide over 60% of total energy consumption, highlighting a strong over-consumption of rice. • Low consumption of nutrient-rich foods. Intakes of fruits, dark green leafy vegetables (DGLVs), and legumes are at only about one-third of the recommended levels. • Some households report zero consumption of healthy food groups. More than 30% of households report zero consumption of dairy foods in the past 7 days, while 15% report zero consumption of dark green leafy vegetables, and 5% zero fruit, indicating that important foods are absent from many household diets. • Multidimensional dietary deprivation. Nearly all Sri Lankan households are deprived in at least one food group. A typical deprived household falls below the reference threshold in six to seven of eight food groups and consumes only about 37% of the recommended amounts for the foods in which consumption is lower than recommended. • Significant dietary inequality across sectors. Dietary deprivation is most acute in the estate sector, while rural and urban areas fare moderately better. • There is a clear need to promote healthy dietary diversification, especially higher consumption of fruits, legumes, vegetables and dairy, while moderating excess consumption of starchy staples. • Institutionalize regular monitoring of diet deprivation, using the Reference Diet Deprivation (ReDD) index and other dietary indicators to guide targeted nutrition interventions. • Support further research on the drivers of dietary patterns in Sri Lanka to better understand its determinants and differences between sectors. 2025-11-25 2025-11-25T14:33:28Z 2025-11-25T14:33:28Z Brief https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178184 en Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Tinneberg, Pia; Headey, Derek D.; Comstock, Andrew; Ecker, Olivier; Marshall, Quinn; et al. 2025. Nutrition and dietary quality in Sri Lanka: Insights from the 2024-2025 BRIGHT survey. BRIGHT Sri Lanka Project Note 7. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178184 |
| spellingShingle | nutrition diet quality nutrient intake health diets nutritive value surveys Tinneberg, Pia Headey, Derek D. Comstock, Andrew Ecker, Olivier Marshall, Quinn Sitisekara, Hasara Silva, Renuka Hülsen, Vivien Munasinghe, Dilusha Ranucci, Immacolata Sabai, Moe Stifel, Elizabeth van Asselt, Joanna Weerasinghe, Krishani Nutrition and dietary quality in Sri Lanka: Insights from the 2024-2025 BRIGHT survey |
| title | Nutrition and dietary quality in Sri Lanka: Insights from the 2024-2025 BRIGHT survey |
| title_full | Nutrition and dietary quality in Sri Lanka: Insights from the 2024-2025 BRIGHT survey |
| title_fullStr | Nutrition and dietary quality in Sri Lanka: Insights from the 2024-2025 BRIGHT survey |
| title_full_unstemmed | Nutrition and dietary quality in Sri Lanka: Insights from the 2024-2025 BRIGHT survey |
| title_short | Nutrition and dietary quality in Sri Lanka: Insights from the 2024-2025 BRIGHT survey |
| title_sort | nutrition and dietary quality in sri lanka insights from the 2024 2025 bright survey |
| topic | nutrition diet quality nutrient intake health diets nutritive value surveys |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178184 |
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