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. 2019 Jul 17;11(7):1629.
doi: 10.3390/nu11071629.

Predictors of Dietary Diversity of Indigenous Food-Producing Households in Rural Fiji

Lydia O'Meara  1 , Susan L Williams  2 , David Hickes  3 , Philip Brown  4
Affiliations

Predictors of Dietary Diversity of Indigenous Food-Producing Households in Rural Fiji

Lydia O'Meara et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Fiji, like other Pacific Islands, are undergoing economic and nutrition transitions that increase the risk of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) due to changes of the food supply and dietary intake. This study aimed to examine dietary diversity (DD) in indigenous food-producing households in rural Fiji. Surveys were conducted with households from the Nadroga-Navosa, Namosi and Ba Provinces of Western Fiji in August 2018. Participants reported on foods consumed in the previous 24 h per the Household Dietary Diversity Score. Data was analysed using multinomial logistic regression. Of the 161 households, most exhibited medium DD (66%; M = 7.8 ± 1.5). Commonly consumed foods included sweets (98%), refined grains (97%) and roots/tubers (94%). The least consumed foods were orange-fleshed fruits (23%) and vegetables (35%), eggs (25%), legumes (32%) and dairy (32%). Households with medium DD were more likely to be unemployed (OR 3.2, p = 0.017) but less likely to have ≥6 occupants (OR = 0.4, p = 0.024) or purchase food ≥2 times/week (OR = 0.2, p = 0.023). Households with low DD were more likely to have low farm diversity (OR = 5.1, p = 0.017) or be unemployed (OR = 3.7, p = 0.047) but less likely to have ≥6 occupants (OR = 0.1, p = 0.001). During nutrition transitions, there is a need for public health initiatives to promote traditional diets high in vegetables, fruits and lean protein and agricultural initiatives to promote farm diversity.

Keywords: Fiji; agriculture; dietary diversity; farm diversity; food security; household; indigenous.

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Conflict of interest statement

L.O. received support from The Crawford Fund and D.H. received support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

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