Micronutrient Adequacy Of Diet Research Articles

Bouillon fortification as a strategy to address inequities in micronutrient adequacy of diets in Nigeria.

Bouillon is a widely consumed condiment in many West African countries, including Nigeria. Although Nigeria has mandatory fortification standards for multiple food vehicles, bouillon fortification could help address remaining gaps in micronutrient intake. Using household food consumption data, we used the nutrient density method to model the additional contribution of bouillon fortified with vitamin A (40-250µg/g bouillon), folic acid (20-120µg/g), vitamin B12 (0.2-2µg/g), iron (0.6-5mg/g), and zinc (0.6-5mg/g) for meeting micronutrient requirements of women of reproductive age (WRA) and children aged 6-59 months. Accounting for existing fortification programs, our results showed that, except for iron, the prevalence of inadequacy was substantially higher among WRA and children living in poorer and rural households. Given the ubiquity of bouillon consumption, bouillon fortification has the potential to virtually eliminate vitamin A, folate, and vitamin B12 inadequacy, reduce the prevalence of zinc inadequacy by over 20 percentage points, and improve equity in the micronutrient adequacy of diets across socioeconomic strata and urban and rural residence. Our results also suggested that designing a bouillon fortification program would require careful planning to balance reductions in inadequacy with the risk of high intakes. This evidence provides important input into decisions around bouillon fortification in Nigeria.

Food biodiversity and total and cause-specific mortality in 9 European countries: An analysis of a prospective cohort study.

BackgroundFood biodiversity, encompassing the variety of plants, animals, and other organisms consumed as food and drink, has intrinsic potential to underpin diverse, nutritious diets and improve Earth system resilience. Dietary species richness (DSR), which is recommended as a crosscutting measure of food biodiversity, has been positively associated with the micronutrient adequacy of diets in women and young children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, the relationships between DSR and major health outcomes have yet to be assessed in any population.Methods and findingsWe examined the associations between DSR and subsequent total and cause-specific mortality among 451,390 adults enrolled in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study (1992 to 2014, median follow-up: 17 years), free of cancer, diabetes, heart attack, or stroke at baseline. Usual dietary intakes were assessed at recruitment with country-specific dietary questionnaires (DQs). DSR of an individual’s yearly diet was calculated based on the absolute number of unique biological species in each (composite) food and drink. Associations were assessed by fitting multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression models. In the EPIC cohort, 2 crops (common wheat and potato) and 2 animal species (cow and pig) accounted for approximately 45% of self-reported total dietary energy intake [median (P10–P90): 68 (40 to 83) species consumed per year]. Overall, higher DSR was inversely associated with all-cause mortality rate. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) comparing total mortality in the second, third, fourth, and fifth (highest) quintiles (Qs) of DSR to the first (lowest) Q indicate significant inverse associations, after stratification by sex, age, and study center and adjustment for smoking status, educational level, marital status, physical activity, alcohol intake, and total energy intake, Mediterranean diet score, red and processed meat intake, and fiber intake [HR (95% CI): 0.91 (0.88 to 0.94), 0.80 (0.76 to 0.83), 0.69 (0.66 to 0.72), and 0.63 (0.59 to 0.66), respectively; PWald < 0.001 for trend]. Absolute death rates among participants in the highest and lowest fifth of DSR were 65.4 and 69.3 cases/10,000 person-years, respectively. Significant inverse associations were also observed between DSR and deaths due to cancer, heart disease, digestive disease, and respiratory disease. An important study limitation is that our findings were based on an observational cohort using self-reported dietary data obtained through single baseline food frequency questionnaires (FFQs); thus, exposure misclassification and residual confounding cannot be ruled out.ConclusionsIn this large Pan-European cohort, higher DSR was inversely associated with total and cause-specific mortality, independent of sociodemographic, lifestyle, and other known dietary risk factors. Our findings support the potential of food (species) biodiversity as a guiding principle of sustainable dietary recommendations and food-based dietary guidelines.

Level of Dietary Diversity and Associated Factors among Adult Patients on HAART at Public Health Facilities of Ambo town, West Shoa Zone Ethiopia

Background: Nutrition and HIV are strongly related to each other, any immune impairment as a result of HIV/ AIDS leads to malnutrition, and malnutrition leads to immune impairment. HIV infected patients are at nutritional risk at any time of their illness. In developing countries HIV/AIDS, food insecurity and malnutrition are common. Dietary diversity scores have been positively correlated with increased micronutrient adequacy of diet in adults. Thus this study aims to assess level dietary diversity and associated factors among Adults on HAART at Public Health facilities of Ambo town. Methods and Materials: The study was conducted at Ambo Town, West Shoa Zone Ethiopia. A facility-based crosssectional study was conducted from January 26-February 26, 2019. A total of 313 study participants were included in the study. Systematic random sampling technique was applied to reach the study subjects. A structured questionnaire which included socio-demographic and health-related factors were prepared based on objectives of the study after reviewing different kinds of literature. Questionnaires on Dietary diversity were adopted from FAO 2010. Data were coded and entered to Epi-data version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 21 for analyses. Frequency, mean and standard deviations from descriptive statistics and analytic statistics such as bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis were computed to determine the effect of various factors on the outcome variable. Result: In this study, 310 HIV positive adults on HAART follow up at Public health facilities of Ambo town were participated in the study making a response rate of 99%. This study shows 71% of adults had low individual dietary diversity score. It was noticed that HIV positive Males were 57% less likely to have low dietary diversity than females (AOR at 95% CI=0.43 (0.21-0.87). Adult patients those who were separated from their husband/wife were about 68% less likely to have low dietary diversity than widowed HIV positive adults (AOR at 95% CI=0.32 (0.11-0.88). Monthly income was also seen to be the factors significantly associated with dietary diversity. Conclusion and Recommendation: This study revealed that about 71% of adult patients on HAART had low dietary diversity score which indicates severe nutrient inadequacy among the study participants. Therefore the town administration, NGO’s working on HIV and other stakeholders should work on empowering females and sustainable income generating projects for HIV patients.