Food consumption patterns and predictors of dietary diversity in pastoral communities of Ngorongoro district, Tanzania.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the patterns of household food consumption and examine the factors influencing dietary diversity. Data were collected from 238 randomly selected households. Food consumption was assessed in terms of Dietary Diversity Score (DDS) with a range of 0-12. The minimum and maximum DDS were one and eight, respectively. Groups of food consumed were classified into four Quantiles (Q) and households were categorized based on quartile cut-points: Q1 (1-3 DDS), Q2 (4), Q3 (5-6) and Q4 (7-8). Chi square test was used to assess the association between the food groups and quartile level. Ordered probit regression was employed to examine determinants for household dietary diversity. Results show that more than four in ten households (43.3%) consumed less than the minimum recommended four groups of food. Proportions of households consistently decreased with increasing quartile level (43.3% in Q1 to 6.7% in Q4). Only 18% of the households were in the upper quartiles (Q3 and Q4). The DDS means by quartiles were 2.47 (Q1), 4.00 (Q2), 5.00 (Q3) and 5.89 (Q4) with the overall mean DDS of 3.52. While cereal (96.2% of the households) was the most consumed food group, there was limited consumption of vegetables (12.6%), fruits (4.2%) and fish (2.9%). Food accessibility and livelihood diversification were the major determinants of dietary diversity. Demographic and socio-economic factors mediated household’s dietary diversity at varying degree of influence.