Dietary diversity predicts dietary quality regardless of season in 6-12-month-old infants in south-west Ethiopia

Mekitie Wondafrash, Lieven Huybregts, Carl Lachat, Kimberley P. Bouckaert, Patrick Kolsteren

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    Abstract

    Objective: Simple, cost-effective and convenient instruments like food group-based scores are proposed to assess micronutrient adequacy of children in developing countries. We assessed the predictive ability and seasonal stability of a dietary diversity score (DDS) to indicate dietary quality of infants.

    Design: A 24 h dietary recall assessment was carried out on a sample of 320 and 312 breast-fed infants aged 6-12 months during harvest (HS) and pre-harvest (PHS) seasons, respectively, in Ethiopia. DDS was calculated based on seven food groups, while mean micronutrient density adequacy (MMDA) was calculated for eight micronutrients. Multiple linear regression models were used to assess the relationship between DDS and MMDA, and differences in nutrient intake between the two seasons. A receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis was performed to derive DDS cut-offs that maximized sensitivity and specificity of assessing dietary quality.

    Setting: The study was conducted in the catchment of the Gilgel Gibe Field Research Centre of Jimma University, south-west Ethiopia.

    Results: The mean (SD) DDS for HS and PHS was 2.1 (0.94) and 2.3 (1.1), respectively. The DDS was associated with MMDA (beta = 0.045, P <0.0001 in HS; beta = 0.044, P <0001 in PHS). A DDS of

    Conclusions: DDS is predictive of dietary quality of breast-fed infants. The study supports the use of DDS to indicate inadequate intakes of micronutrients by breast-fed infants in different seasons.

    Original languageEnglish
    JournalPublic Health Nutrition
    Volume19
    Issue number14
    Pages (from-to)2485-2494
    Number of pages10
    ISSN1368-9800
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2016

    Keywords

    • Ethiopia
    • Dietary diversity
    • Micronutrient density adequacy
    • Breast-fed infants
    • COMPLEMENTARY FOODS
    • FEEDING PRACTICES
    • CHILDREN
    • SIDAMA
    • MADAGASCAR
    • HOUSEHOLDS
    • ADEQUACY
    • INDEXES
    • GROWTH
    • HEALTH

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