Seasonal Variations in Dietary Diversity and Nutrient Intakes of Women and Their Children (6–23 Months) in Western Kenya

Abstract

Seasonal variations in food availability and access contributes to inadequate nutrient intakes, particularly in low income countries. This study assessed the effect of seasonality on dietary diversity (DD) and nutrient intakes of women and children aged 6–23 months in a rural setting in Western Kenya. A longitudinal study was conducted among 426 mother-child pairs during the harvest and post-harvest seasons in 2012. Dietary intakes were assessed using 24-h dietary recalls and dietary diversity scores (DDS) and nutrient intakes calculated for both seasons. Effect of seasonality on women dietary diversity scores (WDDS) and children's dietary diversity scores (CDDS) were assessed using generalised linear mixed models (GLMM). The proportion of women consuming diets with high DDS (>4 out of 9 food groups) increased from 36.4 to 52.4% between the two seasons, with mean WDDS being significantly higher in November compared to July/August (4.62 ± 1.43 vs. 4.16 ± 1.14, P < 0.001). A significantly higher proportion of children consumed foods from ≥4 out of 7 food groups in November compared to July/August (62.4 vs. 52.6%, P = 0.004). Mean CDDS (3.91 vs. 3.61, P = 0.004) was low but significantly higher in November compared to July/August. Estimated marginal mean WDDS increased from 4.17 to 4.38, and decreased for CDDS from 3.73 to 3.60 between the seasons. Seasonality had a small but significant effect on WDDS, P = 0.008 but not on CDDS, P = 0.293. Increase in CDDS in November was due to age and not seasonal effect. Higher women education and household food security were associated with higher WDDS and CDDS. Intakes of iron, calcium and vitamin E were higher among women in November and significantly different between the seasons. Agro-ecological zone, ethnic group and home gardening influenced nutrient intakes of the women. Seasonality had an effect on the DD of women but not of children, thus other factors apart from food availability influence the quality of children's diets during the complementary feeding period. With increasing age and transition to family foods, children's DD is expected to be affected by seasonality. Integrated interventions to alleviate seasonal food insecurity and strengthen rural households' resilience against seasonal deterioration in diet quality are recommended.

Dietary Diversity of Women across Agricultural Seasons in the Kapchorwa District, Uganda: Results from a Cohort Study

“…The structured questionnaire used at baseline included questions to assess both agriculture and nutrition practices of the participating small-holder farm households. The questions were selected from questionnaires that we had successfully applied in other studies already [5,35], and which we had adopted to the specific study environment. The questionnaire at baseline included questions that sought to collect information on the status of the small-holder farm household food security, dietary diversity, child feeding practices, health status, caregiver's knowledge of child feeding practices and household dietary behaviours.…”

“…Small-holder farmers who depend mainly on rain-fed agricultural activities experience poor harvests with fluctuating weather conditions and thus suffer from reduced food availability and household incomes, higher food prices and consequently, reduced food consumption [1][2][3][4]. Seasonal changes in food availability and access have been shown to affect dietary diversity and subsequently, nutrient adequacy of diets consumed by women from small-holder farming households in Sub-Saharan Africa [5][6][7][8]. The consequences of this inadequate nutrient intake among women of reproductive age (15-49 years old), who have increased nutritional requirements, are increased burdens of micronutrient deficiencies, increased incidences and severity of infections, poor pregnancy outcomes and even mortality.…”

Bayesian Analysis of Dietary Diversity among Lactating Mothers in Finote Selam District, Northwest Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Dietary diversity is defined as the number of individual food items or food groups consumed over a given period of time [ 2 , 9 – 11 ]. DD is an essential element of diet quality, and consuming a variety of foods across and within food groups, and across different varieties of specific foods is associated with adequate intake of essential nutrients and other important nonnutrient factors.…”

Seasonality and Day-to-Day Variability of Dietary Diversity: Longitudinal Study of Pregnant Women Enrolled in a Randomized Controlled Efficacy Trial in Rural Burkina Faso

“…Prior analyses of the seasonality of individual- or household-level dietary diversity range from (fixed- or mixed-effects) regression ( 19 , 33–39 ) to time-series summaries of (bi)monthly ( 19 , 40 , 41 ) or seasonal values ( 34 , 39 , 42–52 ), followed by the fit of a regression model that takes a 12-month periodicity (annual model) into account ( 8 , 40 ), and models including an interaction term between dietary diversity indices and survey timing to assess effect modification on nutrient intake ( 47 , 54 , 55 ). However, those methods can lead to over-parameterization or may introduce abrupt changes by the arbitrary choice of seasonal cutoffs (e.g., lean compared with plenty).…”