Elsevier

The Journal of Nutrition

Volume 150, Issue 10, October 2020, Pages 2818-2824
The Journal of Nutrition

Dietary Variation among Children Meeting and Not Meeting Minimum Dietary Diversity: An Empirical Investigation of Food Group Consumption Patterns among 73,036 Children in India

https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/nxaa223Get rights and content
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ABSTRACT

Background:

Minimum Dietary Diversity (MDD) is a widely used indicator of adequate dietary micronutrient density for children 6–23 mo old. MDD food-group data remain underutilized, despite their potential for further informing nutrition programs and policies.

Objectives:

We aimed to describe the diets of children meeting MDD and not meeting MDD in India using food group data, nationally and subnationally.

Methods:

Food group data for children 6–23 mo old (n = 73,036) from the 2015–16 National Family Health Survey in India were analyzed. Per WHO standards, children consuming >5 of the following food groups in the past day or night met MDD: breast milk; grains, roots, or tubers; legumes or nuts; dairy; flesh foods; eggs; vitamin A–rich fruits and vegetables; and other fruits and vegetables. Children not meeting MDD consumed <5 food groups. We analyzed the number and types of foods consumed by children meeting MDD and not meeting MDD at the national and subnational geographic levels.

Results:

Nationally, children not meeting MDD most often consumed breast milk (84.5%), grains, roots, and tubers (62.0%), and/or dairy (42.9%). Children meeting MDD most often consumed grains, roots, and tubers (97.6%), vitamin A–rich fruits and vegetables (93.8%), breast milk (84.1%), dairy (82.1%), other fruits and vegetables (79.5%), and/or eggs (56.5%). For children not meeting MDD, district-level dairy consumption varied the most (6.4%–79.9%), whereas flesh foods consumption varied the least (0.0%–43.8%). For children meeting MDD, district-level egg consumption varied the most (0.0%–100.0%), whereas grains, roots, and tubers consumption varied the least (66.8%–100.0%).

Conclusions:

Children not meeting MDD had low fruit, vegetable, and protein-rich food consumption. Many children meeting MDD also had low protein-rich food consumption. Examining the number and types of foods consumed highlights priorities for children experiencing the greatest dietary deprivation, providing valuable complementary information to MDD.

Keywords:

food groups
Minimum Dietary Diversity
India
geographic variation
nutritional needs assessment
infant and young child feeding practices

Cited by (0)

Supported by NIH Training Grant in Academic Nutrition T32 DK 007703 (to JPB-H).

Author disclosures: The authors report no conflicts of interest

The majority of the work was conducted while JPB-H was a doctoral student in the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Department of Nutrition.

Data described in the article and code book can be downloaded by requesting access from www.dhsprogram.com Analytic code will be made available uponrequest.