Dietary Diversity Scores Measurements

Srinivasulu RajendranCentre for the Study of Regional Development (CSRD)

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)New Delhi

Indiar.srinivasulu@gmail.com

Objective of the session

1. To measure dietary diversity scores that a household has consumed over the preceding 3 days or 24 hrs

1.How to calculate Dietary diversity scores and

2.How to create other indicators of interest from dietary diversity data

The Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS)

It is a simple COUNT OF FOOD

GROUPS that a household or an individual has

consumed over the preceding 24 hours (FAO Guidelines)

Food Groups?

Group No

Food Groups Yes = 1 No=0

1 CEREALS2 WHITE ROOTS & TUBERS3 VITAMIN A RICH VEG. & TUBERS4 DARK GREEN LEAFY VEG5 OTHER VEGETABLES6 VITAMIN A RICH FRUITS7 OTHER FRUITS8 ORGAN MEAT9 FLESH MEATS10 EGGS11 FISH AND SEAFOOD12 LEGUMES, NUTS AND SEEDS13 MILK AND MILK PRODUCTS14 OILS AND FATS15 SWEETS16 SPICES, CONDIMENTS, BEVERAGES

Source: FAO

Detailed commodity groups available in

“Guidelines for Measuring Household and Individual

Dietary Diversity”

FAO

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO

UNDERSTAND THE TYPE OF

COMMODITY INCULDES WHEN

IT COOKED

How HDDS reflect to Food Security?

HDDS is meant to reflect, in a snapshot

form, the economic ability of a household to access a

variety of foods . Source: FAO

Whereas, Individual Dietary Diversity Scores aim to reflect nutrient

adequacy, BUT there some evidences Women Dietary Diversity Score (WDDS) also reflects Household

Economic Access to FoodSource: FAO

Difference between Household and Individual

Levels

Action Household Level Questionnaire

Individual level Questionnaire

What the tool measures

Household economic access to food (dietary energy)

Quality of the individual diet; for women probability of micronutrient adequacy of the diet

Respondent

Person responsible for food preparation for the household on the previous day or last 3 days

Women aged 15-49 years or individuals in other age/sex groups

Target of interest

The household (All persons living under the same roof who share meals)

The respondent

Included and excluded foods

Includes food: prepared in the home and consumed in the home or outside the home; or purchased or gathered outside and consumed in the home

All foods eaten by the individual of interest, consumed inside or outside the home, irrespective of where they were prepared

Number of food group included in the score

12 groups included in the HDDS 9 groups included in the WDDSSource: FAO

BUTToday we

are focusing on

“The Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS)”

Data Sources

Anthropometric indictors

The Household

Dietary Diversity

Score (HDDS)

Chronic Poverty Study - IFPRI

Bangladesh Demographic and

Health Survey (BDHS) - 2007

Reference Period

FAO uses a reference period of the previous 24 hrs, whereas IFPRI uses 3 days recall period.

The recall period of 24 hrs was chosen by FAO as it is less subject to recall error, less cumbersome for the respondent and also conforms to the recall time period

When to measure dietary diversity?

The optimal time of year to measure dietary diversity of households or individuals depends on the objective of the survey or monitoring activity.

There are several scenarios to assist potential users in planning surveys.

More details please refer:

“Guidelines for Measuring Households and Individual Dietary Diversity”

Source: FAO

Activities to undertake before beginning data collection

Translation and adaption steps(i) Basic translation(ii) First Review(iii) Key informant and community meeting to refine the food

lists and translations

Technical issues to discuss prior to beginning data collection

(i) Minimum quantities (ii) Individual food items that could be classified into more

than one food group (decide appropriate food group) (iii) mixed dishes: team will need to agree on a way to

disaggregate mixed dishes in order to record all of the individual components in their respective food groups.

Training Survey interviewersSource: FAO

How to Create Dietary Diversity Scores

As per FAO, Dietary Diversity Scores are calculated by summing the number of food groups consumed in the household or by the individual respondent over the 24 hrs recall period.

Whereas, we are measuring on the basis of 3 days recall period due to non-availability of data on 24 hrs recall period.

Source: FAO

Step 1

Create new food group variables for those food groups that need to be aggregated.

For example: HDDS the food group “Starchy staples” is a combination of “Cereals” and “White roots and tubers”. A new variable termed “Starchy staples” should be created by combining the answers to “Cereals” and White roots and tubers”.

STATA Command:gen star_staple = 0replace star_staple = 1 if cereal ==1 |

white_root == 1As a check, run a “Frequencies” test on all

newly created variables and make sure that all value are either 0 or 1. There should be no values > 1 for the newly created variable

Step 2

USING AND INTERPRETING RESULTS

There are no established cut-off points in terms of number of food groups to indicate adequate or inadequate dietary diversity for the HDDS.

Because of this, it is recommended to use the mean score or distribution of scores for analytical purpose and to set the programme targets.

When interpreting the dietary diversity

score, it is important to keep in mind

that

1.The dietary diversity score does not indicate the quantity of food consumed

2.Diet varies across seasons and some foods can be available in large quantities and at low cost for short periods

3.There may be urban/rural differentials in dietary diversity. Variety is often much greater in urban and peri-urban centres where food markets are adequately supplied and easily accessible