Abstract:
Lack of dietary diversity is a serious health problem in developing countries because diets
are dominantly starchy staples. This study aimed at assessing healthy eating behaviors and
dietary diversity among people living in Morogoro urban, rural and Mvomero districts. A
cross sectional study was conducted to assess eating behaviors and dietary diversity in 150
households. Dietary diversity was assessed by using un-quantified validated 24 hours
recall method. Anthropometric measurements of children under the age of five years (n =
102) were taken. Data was analyzed using SPSS for windows version 21 and
WHOAnthroPlus. Results showed that, rural households had a lower average dietary
diversity score per day (6.56 ± 1.73 units of dietary diversity score per day) than urban
(8.38 ± 1.65 units of dietary diversity score per day) and periuban (7.72 ± 1.43 units of
dietary diversity score per day) households. Dietary diversity was significantly different (P
< 0.05) among households of different socio-economic status. Among all study
households, 41.7 % (n = 63) had no knowledge about the effects of poor dietary diversity
while 37.3 % (n = 56) had no knowledge about the roles played by vegetable and fruits in
reducing the risks of non-communicable diseases. Nutritional status of the children under
the age of five years, were negatively associated with high dietary diversity scores. It was
concluded from this study that, living in rural areas increased the risk of becoming
undernourished compared to living in urban and periurban areas. Despite socio-economic
challenges in urban areas, people living in urban settings were more informed and had
better access to diverse food varieties in all seasons. Awareness programmes should be
conducted to the rural communities to equip them with appropriate nutritional knowledge
about food groups, healthy eating and dietary diversity.
