Abstract
Background/ObjectivesMost interventions to foster child growth and development in India focus on improving food quality and quantity. We aimed to assess the pattern in food consumption and dietary diversity by socioeconomic status (SES) among Indian children.Subjects/MethodsThe most recent nationally representative, cross-sectional data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4, 2015–16) was used for analysis of 73,852–74,038 children aged 6–23 months. Consumption of 21 food items, seven food groups, and adequately diversified dietary intake (ADDI) was collected through mother’s 24-h dietary recall. Logistic regression models were conducted to assess the association between household wealth and maternal education with food consumption and ADDI, after controlling for covariates.ResultsOverall, the mean dietary diversity score was low (2.26; 95% CI:2.24–2.27) and the prevalence of ADDI was only 23%. Both household wealth and maternal education were significantly associated with ADDI (OR:1.28; 95% CI:1.18–1.38 and OR:1.75; 95% CI:1.63–1.90, respectively), but the SES gradient was not particularly strong. Furthermore, the associations between SES and consumption of individual food items and food groups were not consistent. Maternal education was more strongly associated with consumption of essential food items and all food groups, but household wealth was found to have significant influence on intake of dairy group only.ConclusionsInterventions designed to improve food consumption and diversified dietary intake among Indian children need to be universal in their targeting given the overall high prevalence of inadequate dietary diversity and the relatively small differentials by SES.
Highlights
Food, like air and water, is a must for survival and the value of diversified diet for essential nutrients has long been recognized [1]
Due to the non-proportional allocation of the sample to the different survey domains and to their urban and rural areas, we included NFHS-4 sampling weights for our analysis to ensure the actual representativeness of the survey results at the national level and as well as at the domain level [11]
Since NFHS-4 sample is a two-stage stratified cluster sample, sampling weights were calculated based on sampling probabilities separately for each sampling stage and for each cluster [11]
Summary
Like air and water, is a must for survival and the value of diversified diet for essential nutrients has long been recognized [1]. Diversified diet, in terms of amount and composition, is critical for optimal growth, development, and long-term health outcomes in children [2]. Most previous research on child nutrition around the world focused on anthropometric failures rather than dietary diversity [1, 3,4,5]. While dietary diversity and anthropometric failures are inter-related, examining the distribution of dietary diversity and food deprivation across population groups is critical given that most interventions to improve child growth focus on food quality and quantity [6, 7]. In India, despite all the advances in health and development [8], the burden of child under nutrition and micronutrient deficiency remains high [9, 10]. Around 70% of the children suffer from inadequate dietary intake and 40%
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
