Association of household food security and dietary diversity of mother-child pairs in the Philippines

Abstract

Introduction: The majority of Filipino households experience food insecurity. Mothers and children are among the population groups suffering from poor diet quality. This study aimed to determine the extent of the association of household food security (HFS) to mothers’ and children’s dietary diversity score (DDS), and to identify the significant factors associated with meeting the DDS of these vulnerable groups. Methods: The study was a cross-sectional, population-based study utilising secondary data from the 2015 Updating Survey. From a total of 6,692 mother-child pairs, the association between HFS and meeting the DDS of mothers and children, as well as the potential predictors for meeting the DDS were tested using descriptive and logistic regression analyses. Results: The findings showed that HFS was significantly associated with meeting the DDS of mothers and children aged 6-36 months (p<0.001). The proportion of meeting the DDS among mothers and children was significantly higher in food-secure than in food-insecure households (20.7% vs. 14.4%). Furthermore, meeting the DDS decreased with increasing levels of food insecurity. Household food security status, education background, employment, child’s age, and wealth status were significantly associated with meeting the DDS. Conclusion: This study showed the extent of how food security was associated with meeting the DDS of mothers, children, and mother-child pairs, and the factors associated with meeting the DDS. Results can be used to strengthen the formulation of appropriate, evidence-based policies to address household food insecurity and low DDS among mothers and young children.

Influences of wealth index, family size, food security, and diet diversity status in the growth of Filipino school-age children in farming households

“…Mothers are thought to sacrifice their food supply to ensure that children should remain food secure. This theory is supported by the evidence provided by the findings of this related study that only half of the food-insecure households had food-insecure children [36,37].…”

“…Findings of related studies suggested that household food insecurity tends to be associated with overweight among children which can be explained by sociocultural factors [34,35]. It can also be explained that mothers likely protect their children from the effects of food insufficiency in their homes as much as possible when the household experiences acute food shortages [36,37]. Mothers are thought to sacrifice their food supply to ensure that children should remain food secure.…”