Diversidad de la dieta, consumo de hierro y vitamina A en universitarios del noroeste de México

Introduction: Dietary diversity is defined as the number of food groups consumed during a period of time and it has been observed that the lower the diversity, the higher the risk of micronutrient deficiencies. The aim of the present study was to associate dietary diversity with iron and vitamin A intake in university students. Material and Methods: Analytical cross-sectional study, conducted in 83 university students (women n= 64 and men n= 19). Dietary diversity was determined with the Women's Dietary Diversity Project questionnaire, as well as anthropometric indicators and the food frequency questionnaire. Data analysis was performed with the STATA program version 14.2. Results: 89.15% of the subjects had high dietary diversity, followed by 9.63% with medium diversity and only 1.20% with low diversity. When analyzing the percentages of adequacy with respect to dietary diversity, was observed that the higher the diversity, the higher the consumption and percentage of vitamin A and iron adequacy, being statistically significant for the percentage of iron adequacy (p<0.05). The percentage of vitamin A adequacy was 105.59% in women vs 73.76% in men, the percentage of iron adequacy was 179.62% in men vs 75.8% in women. Discussion: A high dietary diversity was found in the study population, contrary to what has been reported by other researchers with the same population. Regarding iron intake, the results agree with different studies in which women have a deficiency in iron intake, in contrast with vitamin A intake, women have a higher consumption than men, a situation reported in other studies. Conclusions: Dietary diversity was found in the study group, however, iron intake in women was below the recommended daily requirement and vitamin A intake in men was below the recommended daily requirement.