Food variety - a good indicator of nutritional adequacy of the diet? A case study from an urban area in Mali, West Africa

被引:336
作者
Hatloy, A [1 ]
Torheim, LE [1 ]
Oshaug, A [1 ]
机构
[1] Univ Oslo, Inst Nutr Res, N-0316 Oslo, Norway
关键词
Africa; dietary assessment methods; dietary diversity; food variety; Mali; mean adequacy ratio;
D O I
10.1038/sj.ejcn.1600662
中图分类号
R15 [营养卫生、食品卫生]; TS201 [基础科学];
学科分类号
100403 ;
摘要
Objective: This study assesses whether a simple count of food items and food groups can predict the nutritional adequacy of the diet in an economically poor country. Design: A three-day weighed record of children. Setting: Koutiala town, in Southeastern Mail. Subjects: Seventy-seven children, 13-58 months of age. One child was excluded owing to an extraordinarily low food variety. Intervention: The study was conducted in April-August 1995. Data from this study were used to create two different indices: Food Variety Score (FVS), a simple count of food items, and Dietary Diversity Score (DDS), a count of food groups. Mean Adequacy Ratio (MAR) was calculated as an indicator for nutrient adequacy, and used to validate FVS and DDS. Results: Mean (s.d.) FVS was 20.5 (3.8) and mean (s.d.) DDS was 5.8 (1.1). A positive correlation was found both between FVS and MAR (Pearson 0.33, P < 0.001) and DDS and MAR (Pearson 0.39, P < 0.001). With cutoff points for FVS at 23 and for DDS at 6, the indices have high ability to identify those with a nutritionally inadequate diet. MAR increased with increasing FVS and DDS. FVS needs to be at least 15 or DDS at least 5 to give a satisfactory MAR. Conclusion: Although a simple count of food items or food groups cannot give a full picture of the adequacy of the nutrient intake, the results from this study show that the food scores can give a fairly good assessment of the nutritional adequacy of the diet, particularly if combined. Such indicators are important for identification of vulnerable groups in areas where people normally eat from a shared bowl, which makes detailed dietary intake studies difficult, time consuming and expensive.
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页码:891 / 898
页数:8
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