Cebu Province - To be healthy, we've always been told to eat a variety of foods and avoid becoming fussy eaters since we were children. Why is it necessary to diversify our diets when we know that eating food groups like go grow and glow would keep us healthy?

Global studies reveal a significant prevalence of population-wide hidden hunger. Micronutrient deficiencies, such as folic acid, iodine, iron, and vitamin A, have long-term consequences for growth and development and have thus been a national focus for decades.

So far, the technique used to alleviate the burden of deficiencies has been limited to the use of additional sources or fortified meals. These approaches, however, weaken food-based strategies emphasizing dietary variety as a long-term sustainable strategy.

Diet diversification is usually accomplished through social and behavioral changes. Aside from the three types of food, nutrition education teaches caregivers about the importance of meal frequency, hygiene, and even gardening. Changing habits like meal frequency and hygiene can make a big difference in a child's overall health. Teaching caregivers how to garden increases their access to a wide variety of meals.

The goal of dietary diversification is to improve the diversity and number of nutrient-dense foods in a family's diet. Putting in place nutrition education for individuals who are directly responsible for family food production, such as caregivers, to teach them about the necessity of certain foods:

• Protective meals for their children (vitamin- and mineral-rich foods)
• Foods that help children's bodies grow (protein-rich foods)
• Meals that provide energy to their children (foods with carbohydrates)

Different foods and food groups are excellent sources of different macronutrients and micronutrients, so different diets are the best source of nutrients. The principle of dietary diversity is incorporated into evidence-based healthy eating patterns such as the Mediterranean diet and the "DASH" diet (a dietary approach to stop high blood pressure), and in our very own Nutritional Guidelines for Filipinos (NGF).

The World Health Organization (WHO) states that a healthy diet includes fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains. Consuming all micronutrients from one or two food groups is not possible and requires regular intake of multiple foods and food groups in sufficient quantities and types to meet nutritional needs.

Dietary diversification strategies improve food consumption at the household level, such as increasing animal-source consumption. Starch-based diets with little access to meats, dairy, fruits, or vegetables are the prevalent diets in most resource-poor communities.

The goal of modifying a family's diet is to enhance the diversity and number of micronutrient-rich foods while reducing micronutrient deficits, which includes animal-source foods. This goal is usually reached through social, and behavior change initiatives, but it can also be accomplished through increased production of nutrient-dense foods and enhanced access to a variety of foods. // ND II Bea Margaux E. Cornelia, RND

Sources: https://borgenproject.org/tag/dietary-diversification/

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2015.00277/full