[Dietary variety and diversity of Spanish children: Four Provinces Study].
OBJECTIVE
Diet variety is claimed for ensuring a healthy eating. Our objective was to analyze the relationship between the variety and diversity of the diet and its nutritional quality among Spanish children.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study where information on food and nutrition was obtained through a food frequency questionnaire. The sample included 1,112 children aged 6-7 years from 4 cities. Children were selected by random cluster-sampling in schools and stratified by sex and socioeconomic level. We calculated a diet variety index (DVI)--count of food items--and a diet diversity index (DDI)--count of food groups. To measure the overall diet quality, the Healthy Eating Index (HEI-f) was used.


RESULTS
The percentage of children eating less than one daily food serving varied between 0% for the grain and 11.3% for the fruit groups. Diet variety and diversity were positively associated with the intake of fiber, vitamines B6 and E and folic acid, and the percentage of caloric intake resulting from polyinsaturated fatty acids and carbohydrates. In contrast, intakes of lipis and saturated fatty acids, vitamine C, sodium and calcium were all negatively associated with diet variety and diversity. Although both DVI and DDI were possitively associated with the HEI-f, the results from a regression model showed that it was only DDI that contributed significantly to the model fitting (p < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
These results support the goodness of a varied diet that includes ingredients from different food groups and, at the same time, maintains the energy energy within recomended levels.
Royo-Bordonada
Miguel Angel
MA
Instituto de Salud Carlos III. Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo. Madrid. Spain. mroyo@iscii.es
Gorgojo
Lydia
L
de Oya
Manuel
M
Garcés
Carmen
C
Rodríguez-Artalejo
Fernando
F
Rubio
Ramón
R
del Barrio
José Luis
JL
Martín-Moreno
José María
JM
D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004032:Diet; D002149:Energy Intake; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013030:Spain; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires