Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Nutrition Research Network: A Home Garden Intervention Improves Child Length-for-Age Z-Score and Household-Level Crop Count and Nutritional Functional Diversity in Rural Guatemala

Abstract

Home gardens may help address childhood malnutrition in low-and middle-income countries. In this quasi-experimental pilot study, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, in collaboration with Maya Health Alliance, evaluated the feasibility of augmenting a standardof-care nutrition-specific package for Maya children with length-for-age z score À2 (stunting) in rural Guatemala with a nutritionsensitive home garden intervention. Two agrarian municipalities in Guatemala were included. Families of 70 children with stunting from 1 municipality received the standard-of-care package (food supplementation, multiple micronutrient powders, monthly nutrition home visits, group nutrition classes). Families of 70 children with stunting from another municipality received the standard-of-care package plus a home garden intervention (garden materials, monthly agricultural home visits, agriculture classes). Maternal and child dietary diversity, household food insecurity, child growth, and agricultural indicators were collected at baseline and 6 months later and were analyzed using mixed linear and logistic regression models. Compared with the standard-of-care group, the garden intervention group had improved child (odds ratio [OR] 3.66, 95% CI 0.89-15.10, P ¼ 0.07) and maternal dietary diversity (OR 2.31, 95% CI 0.80-6.65, P ¼ 0.12) and decreased food insecurity (OR 0.38, 95% CI 0.11-1.35, P ¼ 0.14); however, these effects were not statistically significant. Participation in gardens predicted a higher length-for-age z-score (change difference [CD] 0.22 SD, 95% CI 0.05-0.38, P ¼ 0.009), greater crop species count (CD 2.97 crops, 95% CI 1.79-4.16, P < 0.001), and greater nutritional functional diversity (CD 0.04 points, 95% CI 0.01-0.07, P ¼ 0.006) than standard-of-care alone. Home garden interventions are feasible in rural Guatemala and may have potential benefits for child growth when added to other nutrition-specific interventions.

Association of BCC Module Roll-Out in SHG meetings with changes in complementary feeding and dietary diversity among children (6–23 months)? Evidence from JEEViKA in Rural Bihar, India

“…Such findings are consistent with other studies where lack of significant association between home-gardens and dietary diversity are observed. A potential caveat in such interpretations, however, is the nature of study design and the sample size requirements for estimation of the effects [ 64 ]. For instance, dietary diversity levels among children is notably higher during rainy season but such studies are exception as often cropping pattern as well as seasonality are not considered while drawing such conclusions [ 65 ].…”

“…Our study finds that demographic characteristics of the children do not majorly impact dietary diversity. Low or no disparities across demographic features is a common understanding in the literature where age and sex of the child are often unrelated with dietary diversity score [ 64 ]. However, within the age group of 6–23 months, some age-related disadvantages in dietary diversity is apparent for the younger 6–8 months old infants [ 66 ].…”

Home gardening in sub‐Saharan Africa: A scoping review on practices and nutrition outcomes in rural Burkina Faso and Kenya

“…This is consistent with results from a study in Nepal, where undernutrition has been reduced among mothers participating in a combined home gardening program (Osei et al, 2016). While prior studies observed limited changes in child undernutrition with home gardening programs (Girard et al, 2012; Osei et al, 2016), more recent studies from Guatemala and Ghana demonstrated beneficial effects on child nutritional status by improving anthropometric measures of chronic undernutrition (Guzmán‐Abril et al, 2021; Marquis et al, 2018). Other projects, such as the RAIN‐project in Zambia (Realigning Agriculture to Improve Nutrition), found no effects of integrated home gardening interventions on stunting in children, but during their baseline assessments, they determined a link between higher production diversity and lower stunting rates in young children (24–59 months old) (Kumar et al, 2015; Kumar et al, 2018).…”

Efektivitas Metode Penyuluhan dan Konseling Dalam Upaya Perbaikan Status Gizi Pada Anak Malnutrisi

“…Kunjungan rumah bulanan selama 8 bulan oleh ahli pertaninan untuk penyampaian informasi teknik bertani, 4. Kelas pertanian oleh ahli pertanian untuk memberikan informasi mengenai bercocok tanam, penggunaan kompos, penggunaan alat-alat pertanian, panen dan pengaturan hasil panen (Guzmán-Abril et al, 2022).…”