A. Hatloy et al., Food variety - a good indicator of nutritional adequacy of the diet? A case study from an urban area in Mali, West Africa, EUR J CL N, 52(12), 1998, pp. 891-898
Objective: This study assesses whether a simple count of food items and foo
d groups can predict the nutritional adequacy of the diet in an economicall
y poor country.
Design: A three-day weighed record of children.
Setting: Koutiala town, in Southeastern Mail.
Subjects: Seventy-seven children, 13-58 months of age. One child was exclud
ed owing to an extraordinarily low food variety.
Intervention: The study was conducted in April-August 1995. Data from this
study were used to create two different indices: Food Variety Score (FVS),
a simple count of food items, and Dietary Diversity Score (DDS), a count of
food groups. Mean Adequacy Ratio (MAR) was calculated as an indicator for
nutrient adequacy, and used to validate FVS and DDS.
Results: Mean (s.d.) FVS was 20.5 (3.8) and mean (s.d.) DDS was 5.8 (1.1).
A positive correlation was found both between FVS and MAR (Pearson 0.33, P
< 0.001) and DDS and MAR (Pearson 0.39, P < 0.001). With cutoff points for
FVS at 23 and for DDS at 6, the indices have high ability to identify those
with a nutritionally inadequate diet. MAR increased with increasing FVS an
d DDS. FVS needs to be at least 15 or DDS at least 5 to give a satisfactory
MAR.
Conclusion: Although a simple count of food items or food groups cannot giv
e a full picture of the adequacy of the nutrient intake, the results from t
his study show that the food scores can give a fairly good assessment of th
e nutritional adequacy of the diet, particularly if combined. Such indicato
rs are important for identification of vulnerable groups in areas where peo
ple normally eat from a shared bowl, which makes detailed dietary intake st
udies difficult, time consuming and expensive.