Relationships between the Dietary Diversity Scores of Children and Mothers and the Anthropometric Statuses of Preschool Children

Dietary diversity score is a nutrient intake adequacy index associated with the child growth. As mothers make the most important decisions affecting dietary patterns for their families and children, this study investigated possible relationships between the dietary diversity scores of children and mothers and the anthropometric statuses of preschool children for the first time in Iran.

In total, 236 children and their mothers participated in this cross-sectional study. Data about mothers and children weight, height and dietary diversity scores were collected using food recall questionnaires and dietary diversity questionnaires, respectively. Then, mothers and children were categorized into good, medium and weak dietary diversity score groups based on the protocols by the United Nation Food and Agricultural Organization. Furthermore, households were categorized into three major groups (low, middle and high) based on their socioeconomic statuses.

This study showed that child weight-for-age (p = 0.013) and weight-for-height (p = 0.03) included significant relationships with the mothers dietary diversity scores.

The better the mothers dietary diversity scores were, the more likely they were to have children with normal weight for height, weight for age and height for age values, compared to mothers with low dietary diversity scores.