Current Research in Nutrition and Food Science - An open access, peer reviewed international journal covering all aspects of Nutrition and Food Science

Dietary Quality Assessment with the Help of Dietary Diversity Scores in Homeless Individuals from Worcester County, Massachusetts

Srinivas Divakaruni^1*, Madhavi Medipally²and Satya Divakaruni³

¹Biostatistics, Icon plc, Shrewsbury, MA, USA

²Family Medicine, UMass Memorial Health Care, Shrewsbury, MA, USA

³Shrewsbury High School, Shrewsbury, MA, USA

Corresponding Author Email: drsrini3@gmail.com

Homeless individuals are more likely to experience poor health, and inadequate dietary quality significantly contributes to this poor health. To assess the dietary quality in homeless individuals, Individual Dietary Diversity Score (IDDS) can be used as a proxy tool. To assess the dietary quality of homeless individuals with the help of IDDS as a proxy tool, a cross-sectional study was conducted in homeless individuals with the help of IDDS as a tool with 94 homeless participants. After data collection and cleaning, the mean total diversity scores for this sample and some demographic variables, univariate statistics from the sample were calculated and multiple linear regression was done to identify the association between variables like Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card, sex, age and Body Mass Index (BMI) and their IDDS. Logistic regression was done for a high number of dental caries observed in the sample, and the association with variables like sweets and candies. The sample of homeless individuals shows low dietary diversity scores, with the mean total diversity score being 6.97 (6.46-7.47), with males having slightly higher IDDS compared to females. Individuals having an EBT card showed significantly higher scores when compared with no EBT card. Individuals consuming high-calorie foods such as sweets and candies showed a significant association with dental caries. The study shows dietary diversity scores are low in homeless individuals, along with a higher prevalence of dental caries. There is a need for further research and interventions to improve the dietary quality in homeless individuals.

Dietary diversity; Dietary quality; Homelessness; Individual Dietary Diversity Score; Malnutrition

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