Application of the nutrition functional diversity indicator to assess food system contributions to dietary diversity and sustainable diets of Malawian households
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: Dietary diversity is associated with nutrient adequacy and positive health outcomes but indicators to measure diversity have focused primarily on consumption, rather than sustainable provisioning of food. The Nutritional Functional Diversity score was developed by ecologists to describe the contribution of biodiversity to sustainable diets. We have employed this tool to estimate the relative contribution of home production and market purchases in providing nutritional diversity to agricultural households in Malawi and examine how food system provisioning varies by time, space and socio-economic conditions. DESIGN: A secondary analysis of nationally representative household consumption data to test the applicability of the Nutritional Functional Diversity score. SETTING: The data were collected between 2010 and 2011 across the country of Malawi. SUBJECTS: Households (n 11 814) from predominantly rural areas of Malawi. RESULTS: Nutritional Functional Diversity varied demographically, geographically and temporally. Nationally, purchased foods contributed more to household nutritional diversity than home produced foods (mean score=17·5 and 7·8, respectively). Households further from roads and population centres had lower overall diversity (P<0·01) and accessed relatively more of their diversity from home production than households closer to market centres (P<0·01). Nutritional diversity was lowest during the growing season when farmers plant and tend crops (P<0·01). CONCLUSIONS: The present analysis demonstrates that the Nutritional Functional Diversity score is an effective indicator for identifying populations with low nutritional diversity and the relative roles that markets, agricultural extension and home production play in achieving nutritional diversity. This information may be used by policy makers to plan agricultural and market-based interventions that support sustainable diets and local food systems.
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Luckett et al. applied the nutritional functional diversity score to diets within the context of measuring the contribution of different food source outlets to diet diversity and without validating the nutritional adequacy of the measure.
“Luckett et al. (20) applied the nutritional functional diversity score to diets, but within the context of measuring the contribution of different food source outlets to diet diversity and without validating the nutritional adequacy of the measure.”
From Dietary species richness as a measure of food biodiversity and nutritional quality of diets (2018) · cites this paper as [20]
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“(20) applied the nutritional functional diversity score to diets, but within the context of measuring the contribution of different food source outlets to diet diversity and without validating the nutritional adequacy of the measure.”
BackgroundBellon, M. R., Ntandou-Bouzitou, G. D., & Caracciolo, F. (2016) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0162535 · Cited by 146 · see citing works
- Authors
- Luckett, B. G., DeClerck, F. A., Fanzo, J., Mundorf, A. R., & Rose, D.
- Affiliations
- Tulane University (US)
- Alliance Bioversity International - CIAT (IT)
- Columbia University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Luckett, Brian G
- Venue
- Public Health Nutrition
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2015-06-01
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 13
- Pages
- 2479-2487
- ISSN
- 1368-9800 (ISSN-L)
- 1475-2727
- PMC
- PMC10271332
- OpenAlex
- W2159829731
- Cited by
- 88
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 3
- FWCI
- 1.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Public Health Nutrition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- CGSPace A Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Child Nutrition and Water Access
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Security and Socioeconomic Dynamics
- Keywords
- dietary diversity, sustainable diets, household food production, household food consumption, rural households, Malawi, market access, growing season, agricultural extension, local food systems
- MeSH terms
- Conservation of Natural Resources, Consumer Behavior, Diet, Family Characteristics, Female, Food Supply, Humans, Malawi, Male, Models, Biological, Nutrition Surveys, Patient Compliance, Rural Health, Seasons, Program Evaluation, Crops, Agricultural, Nutrition Policy, Biodiversity, Environmental Policy
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