Consumption of protect and risk food groups for non-communicable diseases among women of reproductive age in rural areas of Morogoro, Tanzania
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Date
2025-02-25
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
PLOS ONE
Abstract
Malnutrition has been persistently high in Tanzania, especially in the rural areas. Although
some interventions have been implemented to reduce the rate of undernutrition, improve-
ment is much slower than expected. Moreover, the prevalence of overweight and obe-
sity among women of reproductive age has been on the increase. Changes in lifestyles
specifically in eating habits may contribute to the observed increase trend in the preva-
lence of overweight and obesity. However, there are limited studies that have assessed
diet quality for women. Hence, this study aimed to assess the consumption of protective
and risk food groups for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in rural areas of the Moro-
goro region, Tanzania. The cross-sectional study involved 512 randomly selected women
of reproductive age in Mvomero district. All mothers or caretakers with children of age
6–23 months who resided in the area for over three months were eligible to participate.
A structured questionnaire was used to collect demographic data and the Global Diet
Quality Questionnaire was used to collect dietary intake data for women. A multivariate
regression model was used to identify factors associated with consumption of diversified
diets, NCD-protect, and NCD-risk food group scores. The results show that about 42% of
the women had no formal education and about one in three women own a mobile phone.
About 70% consumed vegetables while 33% consumed deep fried foods. Only 34% of
the women met the minimum diet diversity (MDD-W) of five or more food groups. The
mean NCD-protect score was 2.8 ± 1.4 and the NCD-risk score was 0.77 ± 0.97. Household
income was positively associated with an increase in both protect scores and NCD-risk.
Mobile phone ownership was positively associated with NCD-risk. Other factors such as
age and self-employment in agriculture were positively associated NCD-protect while the
number of children was negatively associated with NCD-protect score. Rural communities
should be educated on the importance of food diversification starting from production to consumption and the need for multiple sources of income to increase purchasing power
of the household while considering proper food choices to avoid the risk of NCDs. The
Ministry of Agriculture and other stakeholders should support and promote production of
bio-fortified crops and keeping small animals. The Ministry of Education should ensure
that school children are aware of the NCD-risk foods and make available healthier food
choices around the school environment.
Description
Consumption of NCD-protect and NCD-risk food groups among women of reproductive age in rural Tanzania
Keywords
Food, Diet, Children, Medical risk factors, Nutrition, Socioeconomic aspects of health, Cell phones, Rural areas
Citation
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0318744