Fruit and Vegetable Intake of Females Before, During, and After Introduction of 3 Bundled Food System Interventions in Urban Vietnam and Nigeria

Giulia Pastori; Inge D Brouwer; Meike Siemonsma; Hans Verhoef; Le Thi Huong; Thi Thanh Le Xuan; Truong Tuyet Mai; Folake O Samuel; Oluyemisi F Shittu; Toluwalope E Eyinla; Brice Even; Ricardo Hernandez; Mark Lundy; Alan de Brauw; Sigrid Wertheim-Heck; Kate Ambler; Gennifer Meldrum; Amanda De Filippo; Elise F Talsma

doi:10.1016/j.cdnut.2023.102050

Fruit and Vegetable Intake of Females Before, During, and After Introduction of 3 Bundled Food System Interventions in Urban Vietnam and Nigeria

Curr Dev Nutr. 2023 Dec 7;8(1):102050. doi: 10.1016/j.cdnut.2023.102050. eCollection 2024 Jan.

Authors

Giulia Pastori¹, Inge D Brouwer^{1

2}, Meike Siemonsma¹, Hans Verhoef¹, Le Thi Huong³, Thi Thanh Le Xuan³, Truong Tuyet Mai⁴, Folake O Samuel⁵, Oluyemisi F Shittu⁵, Toluwalope E Eyinla⁵, Brice Even⁶, Ricardo Hernandez⁶, Mark Lundy⁶, Alan de Brauw², Sigrid Wertheim-Heck¹, Kate Ambler², Gennifer Meldrum⁶, Amanda De Filippo⁶, Elise F Talsma¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Global Nutrition, Division of Human Nutrition and Health, Wageningen University and Research, the Netherlands.
² International Food Policy Research Institute, United States.
³ Institute for Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Hanoi Medical University, Vietnam.
⁴ National Institute of Nutrition, Vietnam.
⁵ Department of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
⁶ The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Vietnam and Colombia.

Abstract

Background: Low fruit and vegetable (FV) intake in low- and middle-income countries, which is associated with noncommunicable diseases and micronutrient deficiencies, requires food system interventions addressing FV accessibility, affordability, and acceptability. Periodic FV intake monitoring during interventions informs progress toward achieving increased intakes and contributes to understanding the effectiveness of these interventions.

Objectives: This study evaluates the trend in FV intake before, during, and after implementation of a set of nutrition-sensitive food system interventions addressing accessibility, affordability, and acceptability to increase FV consumption over a 1-y period in Vietnamese and Nigerian low-income urban and periurban females.

Methods: We used the Diet Quality Questionnaire to assess FV food group consumption among 600 Vietnamese (Hanoi) and 610 Nigerian (Ibadan) females before, during, and after the interventions (Vietnam: July 2020-September 2021; Nigeria: November 2020-December 2021). A FV score was compared between exposure groups with (mixed) count modeling. The trend in consumption of individual FV groups was analyzed with mixed logistic regression.

Results: The FV score was stable over time, and a small increase was observed after the intervention period especially in Nigeria and in urban Vietnam. A decrease in the total score was observed in periurban Vietnam. Fluctuations were detected in the probability of consumption of individual FV groups over time especially within the fruit groups, probably due to seasonal availability. The degree of exposure could not explain differences in FV intake.

Conclusions: We found a marginal increase in the proportion of females consuming FV during the interventions in both countries. The FV score appeared to be a simple, quick, and easy-to-use indicator for monitoring diversity, variety, and consumption.

Keywords: acceptability; accessibility; affordability; diet quality; females; food system; fruit and vegetable intake; innovations; low- and middle-income countries; monitoring.