80% of Chhattisgarh children lack diverse diet, impacting growth
Raipur | Correspondent: Chhattisgarh remains one of the six other states where children of age 6 to 23 months old do not receive a diverse diet.
According to a recent study on Minimum Diet Diversity Failure, around 80 percent of children in Chhattisgarh state fall under this category.
Minimum Diet Diversity Failure (MDDF) refers to the lack of diverse nutrition in children’s diet, meaning the foods in the diet is repeated.
If a child in the morning is having khichdi or porridge is having the same food every day thus the child is not having other nutritious food.
This lack of proper food variety hinders children’s overall growth and development.
The World Health Center (WHO) considers minimum diversity diet is a crucial indicator of nutritional health, s it shows whether children are getting essential nutrients from various food groups.
Poor diet diversity can significantly impact health, with WHO data indicating that nutritional issues contribute to 35 percent of child deaths globally and account for 11 percent of overall disease burden.
Low nutritional levels weaken children’s immunity, making them more vulnerable to infections and deficiency-related illnesses.
Inadequate dietary diversity is also a significant factor behind stunting and wasting among children under five, making it vital to improve young children’s diet patterns.
The study, published in the National Medical Journal of India by AIIMS researchers Dhruvi Bagaria, Sudeshna Roy, and Gaurav Suresh Gunnal, notes some improvement in diet diversity over the years.
However, the progress has been slow, and issues persist, especially in Chhattisgarh.
Using data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) rounds 3, 4, and 5, the researchers examined dietary patterns across different regions and groups.
Their findings show Uttar Pradesh (86.1 percent), Rajasthan (85.1 percent), Gujarat (84 percent), Maharashtra (81.9 percent), Madhya Pradesh (81.6 percent), and Chhattisgarh (79.8 percent) are among the states with the highest rates of diet diversity failure for young children.