How diverse is the diet of adult South Africans?

Nutrition Journal

Table 3 Mean dietary diversity score (DDS) and percentage adults having consumed an item from the food groups, by Living Standard Measure, age and gender

	Living Standard Measure			Age category				Gender		RSA
	Low	Medium	3: High	16-24 years	25-34 years	35-49 years	50+ years	Male	Female	All
Sample size^c	585	1320	1219	648	779	1001	859	1336	1951	3287
Mean DDS	2.93 [C]	3.84 [B]	4.72 [A]	3.93	3.92	4.09	4.08	4.01	4.02	4.02
(95% CI^a)	2.81 - 3.05	3.76 - 3.93	4.64 - 4.80	3.82 - 4.05	3.82 - 4.02	3.98 - 4.19	3.98 - 4.19	3.92 - 4.09	3.95 - 4.10	3.96 - 4.07
Percent of adults consuming at least one item from the following groups (CI^a):
1.Cereals/roots/tubers	99^b	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	99.7
	99 - 100	-	99 - 100	99 - 100	99 - 100	99 - 100	99 - 100	100 - 100	99 - 100	99.5-99.9
2.Vitamin A rich fruit and vegetables	14**	15	20	13**	16	20	17	15*	18	17
	11 - 16	13 - 17	17 - 22	10 - 16	13 - 18	17 - 22	15 - 20	13 - 17	16 - 20	15 - 18
3.Other fruit- not vitamin A-rich	5***	18	42	27	25	26	22	26	25	25
	3 - 8	16 - 0.20	39 -45	24 - 30	22 - 29	23 - 29	19 - 25	23 - 28	23 - 27	24 - 27
4.Other Vegetables- not vitamin A-rich	49***	46	60	46***	48	55	58	51	53	52
	44 - 54	43 - 49	57 - 63	42 - 50	44 - 52	51 - 58	55 - 62	48 - 54	50 -55	50 - 54
5.Legumes & nuts	24***	18	15	15	17	19	19	16*	19	18
	21 - 27	15 - 20	13 - 17	12 - 17	14 - 19	17 - 22	17 - 22	14 - 18	17 - 21	16 - 19
6.Fats & oils	22***	42	43	40	37	38	38	0.36	39	38
	18 - 26	38 - 45	40 - 46	36 - 43	34 - 41	35 - 41	35 - 42	33 - 39	37 - 42	36 - 40
7. Meat/poultry/fish	45***	78	93	79	81	77	76	81**	76	78
	41 - 49	75 - 80	91 - 94	76 -83	78 - 84	74 - 80	73 - 79	78 - 83	74 - 78	77 - 80
8.Dairy	25***	48	80	54***	50	58	62	57	56	56
	22 - 29	45 - 51	77 - 82	50 - 58	46 - 53	55 - 61	59 - 65	55 - 60	53 - 58	55 - 58
9. Eggs	9***	20	19	20	19	17	15	19	17	18
	7 - 11	18 - 23	17 - 21	17 - 23	16 - 22	15 - 19	13 - 18	17 - 21	15 - 18	16 - 19

^a CI = Confidence interval- selected because of data being stratified; ^b 99 = 99% and 100 = 100% of people consumed from the cereal group; sample size does not always add up to n = 3287 since some questions were not answered or were unknown by participants
[A]; [B] and [C]: different symbols indicate which mean DDS values (comparing the LSM categories) are significantly different, Bonferroni multiple comparison test, p < 0.05. No significant differences between the age categories or the gender categories with regards to DDS value.
*Significant relationship between LSM, age category and gender groups respectively, and whether or not subjects consume food from a specific group, Chi-square test, p < 0.05.
**Significant relationship between LSM, age category and gender groups respectively, and whether or not subjects consume food from a specific group, Chi-square test, p < 0.01.
***Significant relationship between age category and gender groups respectively, and whether or not subjects consume food from a specific group, Chi-square test, p < 0.0001.

ISSN: 1475-2891