Assessment of The Household Food Habits and Dietary Patterns of Rural Belize

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Document general demographic data and meal/snack patterns of household members and food preparers; assess dietary variety, dietary quantity, and dietary diversity of food preparers; determine and compare differences in demographic data, dietary scores, and meal/snack patterns among five geographical districts and the six most common ethnicities in rural households. DESIGN: Rural villages and households were randomly selected. Subjects completed in-home interviews conducted by nursing students using a previously developed survey. Demographic data for individual household members and previous 24-hour dietary intake were recorded for each household food preparer. SUBJECTS: Two hundred food preparers and 1219 household members from rural areas in five districts in Belize, Central America. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Descriptive statistics; mean differences between groups were assessed by analysis of variance. RESULTS: Dietary variety scores throughout Belize ranged from one to 14 foods, with a mean of 6.57 different foods. Dietary diversity and dietary quantity scores were greatest in the staples and animal food groups. Dietary variety, mean diversity and dietary quantity between districts and ethnicities were not found to differ significantly. Meal/snack patterns chosen most frequently throughout Belize, in each district, and in each ethnicity was three meals per day. APPLICATIONS/CONCLUSIONS: Dietary scores suggest rural Belizeans do not consume a variety of foods and frequently do not select foods from every food group, particularly those items in fruit, vegetable, and fat groups. The study results will be added to the developed database designed to provide information in developing national Food Guidelines.