Consumption of Dark Green Leafy Vegetables Predicts Vitamin A and Iron Intake and Status among Female Small-Scale Farmers in Tanzania

Abstract

Inadequate consumption of micronutrient-dense foods such as vegetables and meat are an important contributing cause for anemia and deficiencies of iron and vitamin A in rural communities of Tanzania. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016 to examine nutritional and micronutrient status and their associations to the diet of female small-scale farmers in the sub-humid Kilosa (n = 333) and the semi-arid Chamwino (n = 333) districts, in the Morogoro and Dodoma region. An overall higher prevalence of overweight (19.7%) and obesity (7.1%) than of underweight (5.9%) was detected. Significantly more women in the two villages of Kilosa (27–40%) than in the two villages of Chamwino district (19–21%) were overweight/obese, but also more frequently had anemia (34–41% vs. 11–17%), iron deficiency (24–32% vs. 15–17%), and low serum retinol (21–24% vs. 8–9%). Overall, only a small proportion of women reached recommended daily micronutrient intakes: 27% for vitamin A, 17% for iron, 7% for zinc, and 12–38% for B-vitamins. The amount of dark green leafy vegetables (DGLV) consumed was the main determinant of vitamin A and iron intake by women in Chamwino and corresponded to higher hemoglobin, serum retinol and iron status than in the villages of the Kilosa district; in agreement, DGLV consumption also predicted iron and vitamin A intake in Kilosa district. DGLV consumed with wholemeal millet was advantageous in terms of women’s vitamin A and iron intake and status over the predominantly maize-rice-based diet lacking vegetables.

“They Came Home Over-Empowered”: Identifying Masculinities and Femininities in Food Insecurity Situations in Tanzania

“…Secondly, the children and women should receive their share after the men. Consistent with the finding of Lenz [1]), this can be considered violence in the form of food norms; especially in our case study, where 30% of women were malnourished [21].…”

“…In this work, in the results related to the survey of community problems and to the TO workshops, we focused on the distinction between male and female responses, specifically those aspects that are most important for gender studies, including subcategories such as malnutrition, food behavior (unequal distribution), and violence (physical and/or subtle aggression) in the context of food security. As this work was configured as an analysis of the results collected in the field by research on food security, several aspects of the contextual factors of malnutrition were found and are already published (see [21,25,31]).…”

“…Women in Chinoje and Mzula presented a malnutrition scenario in which 19-21% of women were overweight/obese, but where anemia (11-17%) and/or iron deficiency (15-17%) were also frequent [21]. The high prevalence of anemia and deficiency of micronutrients is common in Sub-Saharan Africa and is associated with an unbalanced diet consisting mainly of cereals, very few animal products, and the insufficient micronutrient content of yellow and orange fruits and vegetables [21]. In addition to the difficult biophysical conditions, this is associated with food consumption and its distribution at the household level.…”

A Tailored Nutrition Education Intervention Improves Women’s Nutrition Knowledge and Dietary Practices in Farming Households of Tanzania

“…The study was part of the Scaling-up Nutrition project (scale-N), which was implemented in Dodoma and Morogoro regions, Tanzania [7,26,27]. These two regions differ in terms of agro-ecological characteristics (NBS 2015).…”

“…These districts were Kilosa from Morogoro region and Chamwino from Dodoma region. From each district, two villages were randomly chosen: Mzula and Chinoje in Chamwino district and Tindinga and Mhenda in Kilosa district [7,18,26,27].…”