Factors associated with infants’ and young children’s (6–23 months) dietary diversity in Pakistan: evidence from the demographic and health survey 2012–13

Abstract Background Optimum nutrition and good feeding practices amongst infants and young children are the key determinants of growth for a healthy life. Dietary diversity is considered to be a reliable and easy-to-measure proxy variable to assess young children’s feeding practices for dietary adeq...

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Main Authors: Sarosh Iqbal, Rubeena Zakar, Muhammad Zakria Zakar, Florian Fischer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2017-12-01
Series:Nutrition Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12937-017-0297-7
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author Sarosh Iqbal
Rubeena Zakar
Muhammad Zakria Zakar
Florian Fischer
author_facet Sarosh Iqbal
Rubeena Zakar
Muhammad Zakria Zakar
Florian Fischer
author_sort Sarosh Iqbal
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background Optimum nutrition and good feeding practices amongst infants and young children are the key determinants of growth for a healthy life. Dietary diversity is considered to be a reliable and easy-to-measure proxy variable to assess young children’s feeding practices for dietary adequacy and nutritional intake. This research aims to examine the current practices of dietary diversity amongst infants and young children aged 6–23 months in Pakistan and the various associated factors at child, maternal, household and community levels. Methods Secondary data analysis was performed for this research using the nationally representative dataset of the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2012–13. Data on the last-born infants and young children aged 6–23 months (n = 1102) was taken from their mothers’ interviews, who reported on their child’s consumption of 7 food groups during the 24 h immediately preceding the survey. Data was analysed, using IBM® SPSS® Complex Sample to measure the association between children’s dietary diversity and various factors at child, maternal, household and community levels through multiple linear regressions. Results Our research uncovered positive associations between children’s dietary diversity and other sociodemographic variables. Overall, a variation was observed in consumption of 7 food groups across the youngest, middle and oldest age-groups of children. Multivariate analysis revealed that the children’s Dietary Diversity Score (scale from 0 to 7) increases to 0.56 (95% CI: 0.18–0.94) amongst children in the middle age-group (12–17 months). Furthermore, the children who were still breastfeeding, with mothers who had a primary level of schooling and whose mothers also received information/services from lady health workers (LHWs) on maternal and child health were found to be a statistically significant predictor of infants’ and young children’s dietary diversity. Nevertheless, amongst them, the DDS had a negative association with the children’s status of still breastfeeding and mothers’ primary level of schooling, whereas it had a positive association with children being in the middle age-group and with mothers who received information/services from LHWs. Conclusion The dietary diversity of infants and young children aged 6–23 months has a modest, nevertheless statistically significant, relationship with sociodemographic characteristics in Pakistan. There is a need for practical efforts to change the behaviour of communities to encourage more diverse foods to promote the healthy growth of children.
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spelling doaj.art-9696fe7e61744c88a9fec52009751c8b2022-12-21T18:13:33ZengBMCNutrition Journal1475-28912017-12-0116111010.1186/s12937-017-0297-7Factors associated with infants’ and young children’s (6–23 months) dietary diversity in Pakistan: evidence from the demographic and health survey 2012–13Sarosh Iqbal0Rubeena Zakar1Muhammad Zakria Zakar2Florian Fischer3Institute of Social and Cultural Studies, University of the PunjabInstitute of Social and Cultural Studies, University of the PunjabInstitute of Social and Cultural Studies, University of the PunjabDepartment of Public Health Medicine, School of Public Health, Bielefeld UniversityAbstract Background Optimum nutrition and good feeding practices amongst infants and young children are the key determinants of growth for a healthy life. Dietary diversity is considered to be a reliable and easy-to-measure proxy variable to assess young children’s feeding practices for dietary adequacy and nutritional intake. This research aims to examine the current practices of dietary diversity amongst infants and young children aged 6–23 months in Pakistan and the various associated factors at child, maternal, household and community levels. Methods Secondary data analysis was performed for this research using the nationally representative dataset of the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2012–13. Data on the last-born infants and young children aged 6–23 months (n = 1102) was taken from their mothers’ interviews, who reported on their child’s consumption of 7 food groups during the 24 h immediately preceding the survey. Data was analysed, using IBM® SPSS® Complex Sample to measure the association between children’s dietary diversity and various factors at child, maternal, household and community levels through multiple linear regressions. Results Our research uncovered positive associations between children’s dietary diversity and other sociodemographic variables. Overall, a variation was observed in consumption of 7 food groups across the youngest, middle and oldest age-groups of children. Multivariate analysis revealed that the children’s Dietary Diversity Score (scale from 0 to 7) increases to 0.56 (95% CI: 0.18–0.94) amongst children in the middle age-group (12–17 months). Furthermore, the children who were still breastfeeding, with mothers who had a primary level of schooling and whose mothers also received information/services from lady health workers (LHWs) on maternal and child health were found to be a statistically significant predictor of infants’ and young children’s dietary diversity. Nevertheless, amongst them, the DDS had a negative association with the children’s status of still breastfeeding and mothers’ primary level of schooling, whereas it had a positive association with children being in the middle age-group and with mothers who received information/services from LHWs. Conclusion The dietary diversity of infants and young children aged 6–23 months has a modest, nevertheless statistically significant, relationship with sociodemographic characteristics in Pakistan. There is a need for practical efforts to change the behaviour of communities to encourage more diverse foods to promote the healthy growth of children.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12937-017-0297-7Dietary diversityChildrenInfantPakistan
spellingShingle Sarosh Iqbal
Rubeena Zakar
Muhammad Zakria Zakar
Florian Fischer
Factors associated with infants’ and young children’s (6–23 months) dietary diversity in Pakistan: evidence from the demographic and health survey 2012–13
Nutrition Journal
Dietary diversity
Children
Infant
Pakistan
title Factors associated with infants’ and young children’s (6–23 months) dietary diversity in Pakistan: evidence from the demographic and health survey 2012–13
title_full Factors associated with infants’ and young children’s (6–23 months) dietary diversity in Pakistan: evidence from the demographic and health survey 2012–13
title_fullStr Factors associated with infants’ and young children’s (6–23 months) dietary diversity in Pakistan: evidence from the demographic and health survey 2012–13
title_full_unstemmed Factors associated with infants’ and young children’s (6–23 months) dietary diversity in Pakistan: evidence from the demographic and health survey 2012–13
title_short Factors associated with infants’ and young children’s (6–23 months) dietary diversity in Pakistan: evidence from the demographic and health survey 2012–13
title_sort factors associated with infants and young children s 6 23 months dietary diversity in pakistan evidence from the demographic and health survey 2012 13
topic Dietary diversity
Children
Infant
Pakistan
url http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12937-017-0297-7
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