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. 2023 Dec 15;27(1):e2.
doi: 10.1017/S1368980023002823.

Assessing the performance of national sentinel food lists at subnational levels in six countries

Chris Vogliano  1   2 , Veronica Varela  1   3 , Monica Woldt  1   2 , Silvia Alayon  1   4 , Laura S Hackl  1   3 , Gina Kennedy  1   5 , Sarah H Pedersen  6 , Erin M Milner  7 , Jennifer Yourkavitch  1   8
Affiliations

Assessing the performance of national sentinel food lists at subnational levels in six countries

Chris Vogliano et al. Public Health Nutr. .

Abstract

Objective: To assess how well national sentinel lists of the most frequently consumed foods in each food group capture data at subnational levels to measure minimum diet diversity (MDD).

Design: We analysed data from seven surveys with 24-h open dietary recalls to evaluate: (1) the percentage of reported foods that were included in each sentinel food list; (2) whether these lists captured consumption of some food groups better than others and (3) differences between estimates of dietary diversity calculated from all food items mentioned in the open 24-h recall v. only food items included in the sentinel lists.

Setting: Seven subnational areas: Bangladesh (2), Benin, Colombia, Kenya, Malawi and Nepal.

Participants: 8094 women 15-49 years; 4588 children 6-23 months.

Results: National sentinel food lists captured most foods reportedly consumed by women (84 %) and children (86 %). Food groups with the highest variability were 'other fruits' and 'other vegetables.' MDD calculated from the sentinel list was, on average, 6·5 (women) and 4·1 (children) percentage points lower than when calculated from open 24-h recalls, with a statistically significant difference in most subnational areas.

Conclusion: National sentinel food lists can provide reliable data at subnational levels for most food groups, with some variability by country and sub-region. Assessing the accuracy of national sentinel food lists, especially for fruits and vegetables, before using them at the subnational level could avoid potentially underestimating dietary diversity and provide more accurate local information for programmes, policy and research.

Keywords: Diet diversity; Diet measurement; Diet quality; Food lists; Low- and middle-income countries.

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Conflict of interest statement

C.V. was involved in the development of the DQQ sentinel food list for Nepal. USAID is a partial funder of the Global Diet Quality Project. All other authors state no conflicts of interest. The contents are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the US Government.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Map of 24-h dietary recall datasets used in this analysis, including demographics, sub-national regions and sample sizes
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Percentage of foods named in the 24-h open dietary recalls that were not included in the national sentinel food list for the ten MDD-W food groups
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Percentage of foods named in the 24-h open dietary recalls that were not included in the national sentinel food list for the eight MDD food groups
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Percentage point difference between women who reported consuming any qualifying food in the MDD-W food groups and those who reported consuming at least one sentinel qualifying food*. *When interpreting the percentage point difference in the reported consumption of a food group, if there was a difference of zero, then all respondents who reported consuming any qualifying food in a certain food group also reported consuming at least one sentinel qualifying food in that food group. The reported consumption from a food group was not different when considering all qualifying foods compared with just sentinel qualifying foods. If there was a percentage point difference of 40, then the percentage of respondents who reported consuming foods from a food group was 40 points higher when considering all qualifying foods compared with considering just sentinel qualifying foods
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Percentage point difference between children who reported consuming any qualifying food in the MDD food groups and those who reported consuming at least one sentinel qualifying food*. *When interpreting the percentage point difference in the reported consumption of a food group, if there was a difference of zero, then all respondents who reported consuming any qualifying food in a certain food group also reported consuming at least one sentinel qualifying food in that food group. The reported consumption from a food group was not different when considering all qualifying foods compared with just sentinel qualifying foods. If there was a percentage point difference of 40, then the percentage of respondents who reported consuming foods from a food group was 40 points higher when considering all qualifying foods compared with considering just sentinel qualifying foods
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
MDD-W among women 15–49 years old by reported consumption of any qualifying MDD-W foods and any sentinel qualifying foods. *Statistically significant at P < 0·05
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
MDD among children 6–23 months by reported consumption of any qualifying MDD food and any sentinel qualifying foods. *Statistically significant at P < 0·05
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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