Objectives To assess the inadequate dietary diversity (IDD) and factors associated with it among 5-9 years old children in Bangladesh. Design The study was based on cross-sectional data from the second wave of a longitudinal food security and nutrition surveillance in 2023. Setting Data were collected from 90 clusters (64 rural, 16 non-slum urban and 10 slums) in all 8 administrative divisions of Bangladesh.
What the research examined
Participants A total of 5764 (2850 boys and 2914 girls) children were included in the study. Information was collected from their mothers. Outcome measures The primary outcome measure was IDD.
What the findings mean
Dietary data were collected using a list-based (24 food categories) recall method, which was further grouped into 10 food groups. IDD was defined as consumption of fewer than 5 food groups out of 10. Results More than half of the children (52.7%) had IDD ( Conclusions To address IDD among children, multisectoral interventions should be targeted linking improving household wealth and sanitation, reducing food insecurity and advancing parental education.
Study authors: Sharmin S, Hossain MM, Akter F, Shamim AA, Rahman S, Afsana K, Mitra DK, Raza WA, Chaudhery D, Mridha MK.. This report is based on the openly licensed abstract and source record and has been formatted for newsroom reading.
BMJ open
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