Assessment of Dietary Diversity and Nutritional Status of Young Nigerian Undergraduates

Background: Lack of nutrition information is a serious challenge facing young adults in some countries resulting in their ignorance of the nutritional values of various foods.Objective: This study determined the dietary diversity of undergraduate students of Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu Alike Ikwo (AEFUNAI).Methods: Simple random sampling technique was used in selecting 470 students (234 males and 236 females) between the ages of 17-27 years. A pre-tested semi-structured interviewer–administered questionnaire was used to collect socio- demographic information and 24-hour diet recall.Anthropometric data was collected using standard procedures. Dietary diversity (DD) was determined using 14-food group dietary diversity model and terciles were created to categorize individual dietary diversity (low: 1-4; average: 5-9; high: 10-14). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA and Chi-square. Statistical significance was determined at 5% level (P <0.05).Results: Mean age, height, weight and BMI of respondents were 21.2± 2.5 years, 1.69 ± 0.03m, 64.4 ± 2 9.2kg and 22.7 ± 3.0kg/m respectively. Obesity was significantly higher in females (22.9%) than males (9.8%), (P < 0.05). Dietary diversity scores (DDS) was 5.0 ±2.74, and majority (57.9%) scored low. Food consumption by the respondents was significantly different (p<0.05) in two food groups. More males (53.9%) skipped lunch while more females (43.9%) skipped breakfast.Conclusion: The respondents had low dietary diversity with obesity higher in females than males.Nutrition education on adequate dietary practices is recommended

Impacts of Caregivers’ Nutrition Knowledge and Food Market Accessibility on Preschool Children’s Dietary Diversity in Remote Communities in Southeast Nigeria

Empirical evidence is scanty on the nexus between caregivers’ nutrition knowledge, market accessibility, and preschool children’s dietary diversity in remote communities of Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria. To fill this gap, this study evaluated the effects of caregivers’ nutrition knowledge and access to food market on dietary diversity of preschool children. We used cross-sectional data from four hundred households selected from twenty remote communities in Southeast Nigeria. The study adopted instrumental variable regression to estimate the impacts of nutrition knowledge and food market access on preschool children’s dietary diversity. The findings show that in remote communities, caregivers’ nutrition knowledge and households’ closeness to the market improved preschool children’s dietary diversity. The study demonstrates the potential of improving preschool children’s nutrition outcomes through enhancing access to food market and the nutrition knowledge of the caregivers