Home Gardening Is Associated with Filipino Preschool Children’s Dietary Diversity Aegina B. Cabalda, Pura Rayco-Solon, Juan Antonia A. Solon, Florentino S. Solon Lily Dickson Nov. 20, 2012

Introduction  Undernutrition-  stunting, wasting, micronutrient deficiencies  Low and middle income countries suffer  Inadequate food intake usually primary cause  923 million are chronically hungry  In Philippines:  protein energy malnutrition  micronutrient deficiencies  Rise of food prices raise global concerns for prevalence of hunger

Food Security  At a minimum, nutritionally safe foods are readily available in socially acceptable ways  With rising food prices, households may be faced with changing their quantity, quality, and/ or diversity of their consumptions  Dietary Diversification: expanding and diversifying food productions  Home Gardening improves:  consumption of fruits and vegetables  child health and nutritional status  household food security and income  women’s empowerment

Purpose  Determine the associations between home gardening and the dietary diversity of preschool-aged children in urban and semi-urban areas in the Philippines

Methods  Study conducted in Rizal, Philippines  Baras- Rural, predominantly agricultural community  Angono- urban, sources of income are trading, farming, fishing, manufacturing  Rizal has high prevalence of: (Children <5y.o.)  Underweight (35%)  Vitamin A deficiency (30%)  Anemic (36%)  Households with children 2-5 y.o selected  55% boys, 45% girls  76% children underweight  60% children under height  100 Households from Baras, 100 from Angona

Procedure  Household Visits- interview children’s mother  Socioeconomic and Demographic characteristics  Household Food Security-  0-1 high or marginal food security  2-4 low food security  5-6 very low food security  Diet Diversity-asked if child consumed food items from set of 10 food groups  score of 0-10  Frequency of vegetable consumption  Morbidity history- fever or diarrhea during last 2 weeks  Home gardening-  Simple: 1-2 varieties of vegetables are scattered and seasonal  Improved: 3-4 varieties but not productive all year  Developed: > 3 varieties of vegetables thru whole year  Anthropometric status-children weighed and measured

Results- Quantitative

Frequency of Vegetable Consumption %

Results  52% households with gardens  40% simple gardens  26% improved gardens  34% developed gardens  48% without  No statistical differences:  anthropometric measurements  nutritional status  Urban vs. rural regions  Parents age, education, income, household size, food expenditure, number of appliances  Garden associated with :  More varied diet  Less illness  Statistical significance:  Dietary diversity scores  Vegetable consumption  Vitamin A rich fruit consumption:  2/3 with gardens  ½ without

Discussion  Positive associations between having a home garden  child’s diet diversity  fruits and vegetable consumption  Home gardening is a good tool to teach children healthy habits and diversify their diets  Results apparent in children even at a very young age

Conclusion  This study showed statistical significance in regards to dietary diversity and willingness to eat vegetables between preschoolers living in a household with and without gardens  Possible improvements:  Different place where agriculture is not as dominant  Different age children  Rural vs. Urban  Limitations of water, land, good soil, etc.