A study of rural household dietary diversity: The case of Raebareily district, Uttar Pradesh

摘要

According to a well-known proverb, we absolutely are what we eat, and the foods provided to the body greatly affect performance and health. There are many reasons of malnutrition such as food availability, hygiene and sanitation and another one prominent factor is dietary diversity. In the present study, an analysis had been undertaken with the objective of perceptive dietary habits and nutritional status among rural population with special reference to dietary diversity. The study has been conductedduring 2016-17. The observations from the study included BMI, one of the major indicators of nutrition status, which revealed about 12 per cent men, 13per cent women, 16 per cent boys and 23 per cent girls were coming under severely underweight and remaining majority falls in underweight category. Though, at the brighter side children fell in overweight category was nil, but, the higher underweight percentage is alarming situation for the society. The study mainly talks about Individual Dietary Diversity Score (IDDS) that ranged from 5.4 to 5.5; women's dietary diversity score was slightly less than the men, where in case with children it was slightly lesser in girls as compared to boys ranging from 4.01 to 4.7 respectively. The average consumption offood items by the respondent were also calculated which lefts there is a gap between actual consumption and Recommendly Dietary Altough (RDA). The study also calculated Simpson under of Dietary Diversity(SIDD) scores, which were........from 0.71 to 0.76. This score talks about the variety of food itemsconsumed. As substantiated from this study, income and own farm share improves food accessibility: Hence, there is a need of much diversified cropping pattern, nutri kitchen gardens and other methods that will lead to diversity in their available food options. This study also throws light on some other factors such as knowledge level of nutrition, which was more or less equal percentage among both men and women, which suggests men as well to be sensitized about importance of food and nutrition to achieve nutritional security of all and in particular women.