A Snapshot Investigation on Assessment of Role of Dietary Diversity in Healthy Ageing among Elderly Living at Ahmedabad City, India

BACKGROUND: Dietary Diversity (DD) is one of the crucial determinants to address Healthy ageing among elderly people. OBJECTIVES: To estimate prevalence with concerned determinants of Dietary Diversity, to assess intake-pattern of various nutrients and correlation of dietary diversity with healthy ageing among study participants. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 192 Elderly people (≥ 60 years of age) residing at Ahmedabad city, India, selected by two-stage Cluster sampling [As per Rapid Assessment Method for Older People (RAM-OP) survey sampling technique]. A pretested, semi-structured questionnaire including Socio-Demographic and Dietary-Diversity related details was utilised as survey-instrument. Healthy ageing was assessed with selected General Health status using two domains of total five; namely general Activity of Daily Living and Instrumental Activity of Daily Living (IADL) were applied to collect relevant data. RESULTS: Prevalence of Dietary-Diversity was 44.27% among study-participants. Various determinants such as living alone, socio-economic-class, co-morbidities, type of diet, oral health and meal-frequency revealed statistically significant association with Dietary Diversity. Cereals (96.9%), roots and tubers (91.7%), and condiments and mushrooms (90.1%) were the most common food-groups consumed by study participants. Of 85 participants with positive dietary diversity, more than two-thirds (67, 78.82%) were able to manage activities of daily living independently whereas approximately three-fifth (66, 61.68%) of sub-cohort of counterpart could manage the same independently. Predictors of IADL like use of telephone, practice of taking medications and managing their own money showed statistically significant association with presence of dietary-diversity. CONCLUSION: Dietary diversity was prevalent among less than half of study-participants. A diverse diet showed statistical significant role in ensuring independence in general activities of daily living while gender-specific variations for instrumental activities of daily living.