RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIETARY DIVERSITY AND NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF CHILDREN UNDER FIVE IN THE PENDJARI PLAIN IN NORTHWESTERN BENIN

Boni Orou Marius Bio Bouko, Abdou Ganiou Yessoufou* Justin Behanzin, Amirath Adégnika Adebo and Alphonse Sezan

ABSTRACT

Background: Dietary diversity is at the individual level an approximate measure of the nutritional adequacy of the diet Purpose: This study aims to determine the dietary diversity of children under five and its impact on the various forms of malnutrition in the Pendjari Plain. Methods: This is a prospective, descriptive, and analytic study that took place in the second quarter of 2019. Anthropometric measurements were collected in children under five years of age and their mothers were surveyed this effect. The P / T, P / A, and T / A indices were calculated using the WHO Anthro software. The dietary diversity of children was estimated by the FANTA method. Statistical tests are considered significant for P ˂ 0.05. Results: A total of 600 children were included in this study. Our results show that 54.8% were stunted, 20.9% were wasted, and 35% were underweight. By cons 25% were overweight. The distribution curves of the indices (Weight for Age and Height for Age) in z-score of the surveyed population compared to the curves of the WHO reference population were shifted to the left. On the other hand, that of the P / T index was shifted both to the right and to the left. About 20% of the children surveyed had a low dietary diversity score. Only the T / A index characterizing stunting was significantly related to the dietary diversity of children. Conclusion: In sum, dietary diversity has an impact on the nutritional status of children with a double burden of malnutrition: undernutrition and overnutrition.

Keywords: Food diversity, double burden, stunting, wasting, underweight, Benin.