Adolescent Girls With Low Dietary Diversity Score Are Predisposed to Iron Deficiency in Southwestern Nigeria

Iron-deficiency anemia is a pervasive public health problem among adolescent girls in sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of this study was to assess the dietary iron intakes of adolescent females using dietary diversity as a proxy in relation to iron status. Purposive sampling procedure was used to select 120 foods and nutrition female students from 6 rural government schools in Ondo West Local Government of Southwestern Nigeria, which was predominantly of Yoruba ethnic group. The students were screened for serum ferritin concentration of less than 12.0 µg/L with normal hemoglobin concentration to determine iron deficiency status. A standardized Food and Agriculture Organization 24-hour diet recall questionnaire was adapted, tested, and used to calculate dietary diversity score. Analyses were done using SPSS version 16. The result indicated that the mean age was 14 ± 1.45 years, 57 (47.5%) adolescent females were iron deficient, and 63 (52.5%) non–iron deficient. Girls in the 16 to 19 years range were significantly more likely to be iron deficient than other groups (odds ratio = 2.81, 95% confidence interval = 1.12-6.54). Mean Dietary Diversity Score (DDS) was 2.6 ± 1.058, which showed a significant difference between the 2 groups ( P = .037). Heme iron source ( P = .032) was consumed lesser than the non-heme iron ( P = .002) by iron-deficient girls. Girls with low DDS were at significantly higher risk (odds ratio = 1.79, 95% confidence interval = 0.50-2.17, P = .006) compared with the high and moderate DDS groups. In conclusion, there was a low intake of dietary iron among adolescent girls. Nutrition education should be intensified among female adolescents to improve their nutritional knowledge.