Nutrient intakes from a 24-hour recall survey among children aged 2-5 years, adolescent girls aged 10-18 years, and women aged 19-49 years in five regions of Niger.

Background: Conducting dietary intake surveys among vulnerable groups is essential for assessing interventions and informing decision-makers on progress in transforming food systems for supporting healthier diets. We aimed to describe the usual intakes of nutrients and their adequacy compared to estimated average requirements in three target groups; children aged 2-5 years, adolescent girls aged 10-18 years, and women aged 19-49 years in the regions of Dosso, Maradi, Tahoua, Tillabéri, and Zinder in Niger.

Methods: We conducted the first quantitative food consumption survey in Niger.

Development and Validation of the Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS) for Children 24 to 59 Months of Age.

Objectives: To develop the Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS) for children aged 24-59 months and evaluate its performance in predicting outcomes related to nutrient adequacy and diet-related noncommunicable disease (NCD) risk.

Background: The GDQS is a food-based metric developed and validated for capturing diets' contributions to nutrient adequacy and NCD risk among adult men and nonpregnant and nonlactating women aged ≥15 years globally. Despite the importance of ensuring healthy diets in preschool children and the need for systematic monitoring, no food-based metrics exist that holistically measure diet quality among children aged 24-59 months in diverse populations.

Development and Validation of the Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS) for Children 5 to 9 Years of Age.

Objective: The purpose of the study was to develop and validate a Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS) for children aged 5-9 years adapted from the existing GDQS developed for adults.

Background: Diet quality is important for nutrient adequacy and risk of nutrition-related chronic disease. A diet quality metric for global use with children is needed.

Validation of the Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS) Among Children 10 to 14 Years of Age.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the performance of the Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS) in predicting nutrient intake and health outcomes among children aged 10-14 years old in Mexico, the United States, the United Kingdom, and China. For comparison, we evaluated other dietary metrics (Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women [MDD-W], the Global Dietary Recommendations score [GDR], and the Healthy Eating Index-2020 [HEI-2020]).

Background: Given the magnitude of the health burden associated with all forms of malnutrition, monitoring dietary quality is fundamental to improving global health.

What Adults in Rural South Asia Eat and When They Eat It: Evidence From Bangladesh, India, and Nepal.

Background: Poor diets are associated with all forms of malnutrition and diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Data on dietary patterns are scarce in South Asia.

Objectives: We sought to describe overall diet quality and intake of foods and food groups at different eating occasions among adults in rural South Asia.

Validation of Two Portion Size Estimation Methods for Use with the Global Diet Quality Score App.

: The Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS) was developed to provide crucial information on diet quality. The GDQS app standardizes the collection of GDQS data using portion size estimation at the food group level with 3D cubes of pre-defined size. Playdough was proposed as a possible alternative method.

The Minimum Dietary Diversity For Women Indicator Can Be Extended To Children And Adolescents aged 4-15 Years As A Proxy Population Indicator For Good Micronutrient Adequacy Of Diets In Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

Background: The response to the global call for more data on children's and adolescents' diets and nutrition is limited by the lack of straightforward practical indicators to track their diet quality. On the basis of a food group score compiled from 10 food groups (FGS-10), the minimum dietary diversity for women, calculated as FGS-10 ≥ 5, is a validated proxy population indicator for better micronutrient intake adequacy for adult women in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Objectives: This study aims to validate FGS-10 and its related cutoffs against micronutrient intake adequacy in 4-15-y-old children/adolescents in LMICs.

The feasibility of using the application developed to operationalize the Global Diet Quality Score in Ethiopia.

Background: The Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS) application is an electronic data collection tool developed to provide a standard, easy-to-use method for collecting low-cost, time-relevant data on diet quality.

Objective: To assess the feasibility and ease-of-use of the GDQS application and associated set of 3D cubes used as visual aids to assist the respondent with estimating amounts consumed at the food group level.

Methods: The study was conducted in August 2021 in two regions of Ethiopia with varied dietary practices.

An Ex-Ante Analysis of the Impact of Biofortified Zinc Rice on Dietary Zinc Inadequacy: Evidence from Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

Background: South, East, and Southeast Asia are among the regions of the world with the highest estimated prevalence of inadequate zinc intake. Because populations in those regions eat rice as their main staple, zinc biofortification of rice can potentially improve zinc intake, especially among the most vulnerable.

Objectives: We modeled the impact of the consumption of zinc-biofortified rice on zinc intake and inadequacy among women of childbearing age and young children nationally in Indonesia, the Philippines, and at a subnational level in Bangladesh.

Performance of the Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS) App in Predicting Nutrient Adequacy and Metabolic Risk Factors among Thai Adults.

Background: The Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS) was developed for monitoring nutrient adequacy and diet-related noncommunicable disease risk in diverse populations. A software application (GDQS app) was recently developed for the standardized collection of GDQS data. The application involves a simplified 24-h dietary recall (24HR) where foods are matched to GDQS-food groups using an onboard database, portion sizes are estimated at the food group level using cubic models, and the GDQS is computed.

The Global Diet Quality Score is associated with nutrient adequacy and depression among Vietnamese youths.

The Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS) has been recommended as a simple diet quality metric that is reflective of both nutrient adequacy and noncommunicable disease outcomes. It has been validated among women of reproductive age (15-49 years) in diverse settings but not specifically among younger women. This paper examines the relationship between the GDQS and nutrient adequacy, anthropometric outcomes, and depressive symptoms among 1001 Vietnamese young women aged 16-22 years.

Estimating national and subnational nutrient intake distributions of global diets.

Background: Access to high-quality dietary intake data is central to many nutrition, epidemiology, economic, environmental, and policy applications. When data on individual nutrient intakes are available, they have not been consistently disaggregated by sex and age groups, and their parameters and full distributions are often not publicly available.

Objectives: We sought to derive usual intake distributions for as many nutrients and population subgroups as possible, use these distributions to estimate nutrient intake inadequacy, compare these distributions and evaluate the implications of their shapes on the estimation of inadequacy, and make these distributions publicly available.

Development and Validation of a Novel Food-Based Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS).

Background: Poor diet quality is a major driver of both classical malnutrition and noncommunicable disease (NCD) and was responsible for 22% of adult deaths in 2017. Most countries face dual burdens of undernutrition and NCDs, yet no simple global standard metric exists for monitoring diet quality in populations and population subgroups.

Objectives: We aimed to develop an easy-to-use metric for nutrient adequacy and diet related NCD risk in diverse settings.

There's an App for That: Development of an Application to Operationalize the Global Diet Quality Score.

Background: The global diet quality score (GDQS) is a simple, standardized metric appropriate for population-based measurement of diet quality globally.

Objectives: We aimed to operationalize data collection by modifying the quantity of consumption cutoffs originally developed for the GDQS food groups and to statistically evaluate the performance of the operationalized GDQS relative to the original GDQS against nutrient adequacy and noncommunicable disease (NCD)-related outcomes.

Methods: The GDQS application uses a 24-h open-recall to collect a full list of all foods consumed during the previous day or night, and automatically classifies them into corresponding GDQS food group.

Dietary Diversity Indicators and Their Associations with Dietary Adequacy and Health Outcomes: A Systematic Scoping Review.

Dietary diversity has long been recognized as a key component of diet quality and many dietary diversity indicators (DDIs) have been developed. This systematic scoping review aimed to present a comprehensive inventory of DDIs and summarize evidence linking DDIs and dietary adequacy or health outcomes in adolescents and adults. Two search strategies were developed to identify peer-reviewed articles published in English up until June 2018 and were applied to Medline, Web of Science, and Scopus.

Micronutrient intake and prevalence of micronutrient inadequacy among women (15-49 y) and children (6-59 mo) in South Kivu and Kongo Central, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Iron biofortified beans and carotenoid enriched cassava are proposed as a solution to combat iron and vitamin A deficiencies, respectively, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). To inform the need for biofortified foods, we conducted a survey in 2014 in two provinces of the DRC, South Kivu and Kongo Central. Unexpectedly, women of reproductive age (WRA; 15-49 y) and their children (6-59 m) had a low prevalence of biochemical iron and vitamin A deficiency, based on ferritin and retinol binding protein, respectively.

Validation of 24-h dietary recall for estimating nutrient intakes and adequacy in adolescents in Burkina Faso.

Data on dietary nutrient intakes of adolescents in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) is lacking partly due to the absence of validation studies of the 24-h recall method in adolescents. We conducted a validation study of 24-h recall (24HR) compared with observed weighed records (OWR) in adolescents (n = 132, 10-11 years; n = 105, 12-14 years). Dietary data were collected for the same day by both methods by conducting the 24HR the day after the OWR.

Assessing Dietary Diversity in Pregnant Women: Relative Validity of the List-Based and Open Recall Methods.

Background: The Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MMD-W) was validated as a proxy of micronutrient adequacy for nonpregnant women, with proposed data collection being either a list-based or a qualitative open recall method. Few studies have compared the performance of these 2 methods.

Objectives: We compared performance in predicting micronutrient adequacy of food group indicators (FGIs) measured by the list-based and the quantitative open recall methods using varying quantity cut-offs.

Vitamin A intakes remain higher among intervention participants 3 years after a biofortification intervention in Mozambique.

The Reaching End Users (REU) project introduced orange sweet potatoes (OSP) to farmers in northern Mozambique between 2006 and 2009, and the associated cluster randomised control trial found increased vitamin A intake among targeted children and women of child-bearing age and reduced prevalence of inadequate vitamin A intake. Yet little is known about whether successful agricultural-nutrition interventions have lasting effects. This study measures the lasting effects of the REU project, 3 years after the project ended, on vitamin A intake.

Dietary Intake Patterns among Lactating and Non-Lactating Women of Reproductive Age in Rural Zambia.

Insufficient dietary intake, micronutrient deficiencies, and infection may result in malnutrition. In Zambia, an estimated 14% of women are vitamin A-deficient, ~50% are anemic, 10% are underweight, and 23% are overweight/obese. A cross-sectional survey determined food and nutrient intakes of randomly selected Zambian women ( = 530) of reproductive age (15⁻49 years).

Local foods can meet micronutrient needs for women in urban Burkina Faso, but only if rarely consumed micronutrient-dense foods are included in daily diets: A linear programming exercise.

Women of reproductive age are at nutritional risk due to their need for nutrient-dense diets. Risk is further elevated in resource-poor environments. In one such environment, we evaluated feasibility of meeting micronutrient needs of women of reproductive age using local foods alone or using local foods and supplements, while minimizing cost.

Availability, production, and consumption of crops biofortified by plant breeding: current evidence and future potential.

Biofortification is the process of increasing the density of vitamins and minerals in a crop through plant breeding-using either conventional methods or genetic engineering-or through agronomic practices. Over the past 15 years, conventional breeding efforts have resulted in the development of varieties of several staple food crops with significant levels of the three micronutrients most limiting in diets: zinc, iron, and vitamin A. More than 15 million people in developing countries now grow and consume biofortified crops.

The Proportion of Anemia Associated with Iron Deficiency in Low, Medium, and High Human Development Index Countries: A Systematic Analysis of National Surveys.

Iron deficiency is commonly assumed to cause half of all cases of anemias, with hereditary blood disorders and infections such as hookworm and malaria being the other major causes. In countries ranked as low, medium, and high by the Human Development Index, we conducted a systematic review of nationally representative surveys that reported the prevalence of iron deficiency, iron deficiency anemia, and anemia among pre-school children and non-pregnant women of reproductive age. Using random effects meta-analyses techniques, data from 23 countries for pre-school children and non-pregnant women of reproductive age was pooled, and the proportion of anemia attributable to iron deficiency was estimated by region, inflammation exposure, anemia prevalence, and urban/rural setting.

Biofortified β-carotene rice improves vitamin A intake and reduces the prevalence of inadequacy among women and young children in a simulated analysis in Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

Background: Vitamin A deficiency continues to be a major public health problem affecting developing countries where people eat mostly rice as a staple food. In Asia, rice provides up to 80% of the total daily energy intake.

Objective: We used existing data sets from Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Philippines, where dietary intakes have been quantified at the individual level to 1) determine the rice and vitamin A intake in nonpregnant, nonlactating women of reproductive age and in nonbreastfed children 1-3 y old and 2) simulate the amount of change that could be achieved in the prevalence of inadequate intake of vitamin A if rice biofortified with β-carotene were consumed instead of the rice consumed at present.

Biological Status and Dietary Intakes of Iron, Zinc and Vitamin A among Women and Preschool Children in Rural Burkina Faso.

Background: Food-based approaches such as biofortification are meant to sustainably address micronutrient deficiencies in poor settings. Knowing more about micronutrient intakes and deficiencies is a prerequisite to designing and evaluating interventions.

Objective: The objectives of the study were to assess biological status and dietary intakes of iron, zinc and vitamin A among women and children aged 36-59 months in rural Burkina Faso and to study relationships between intake and status to better inform future food-based interventions.