Dietary diversity in relation to other household food security indicators Online publication date: Wed, 08-Jul-2009
by Mieke Faber, Craig Schwabe, Scott Drimie
International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health (IJFSNPH), Vol. 2, No. 1, 2009
Abstract: This article describes dietary diversity in relation to other food security indicators used in a cross-sectional livelihood survey that included 499 randomly selected households within five municipalities in Greater Sekhukhune, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Indicators calculated using data collected by questionnaire included household dietary diversity score (DDS), living standards measure, months of food shortages and household food insecurity and access scale (HFIAS). Households with DDS ≤ 4 (n = 267) and DDS > 4 (n = 232) were compared using analysis of variance and χ²-test. Spearman correlation analysis was done for HFIAS and DDS. Compared to households with a DDS > 4, households with a DDS ≤ 4 had fewer assets, experienced more food shortages and had a higher HFIAS (16.0, 95% confidence interval (CI) 15.0-17.0 vs. 9.8, 95% CI 8.8-10.9). An inverse correlation between HFIAS and dietary diversity (r = −0.450; p < 0.01) was observed. Therefore, dietary diversity is a promising indicator for food security.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health (IJFSNPH):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com
Our Blog 
Follow us on Twitter 
Visit us on Facebook