Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2025

When does dietary diversity enhance diet quality? The importance of food groups and dimensions

Résumé

Background and objectives To some extent, dietary diversity is essential for adequate nutrient intake. However, a higher diversity has also been associated with overconsumption and excessive intake of harmful nutrients. Therefore, the impact of diversity is likely to depend on the food groups in which it operates. It may also depend on the dimension of diversity, which can be of three types (the number of foods consumed, their uniformity, and their nutritional dissimilarity). The aim of this study was to evaluate how dietary diversity within different food groups affects diet quality by analyzing the effects of an increase according to three dimensions. Methods Following a literature review, we defined dietary diversity according to three dimensions: count, evenness, and nutritional dissimilarity of the foods consumed. We developed a model to simulate individual-specific increases in diversity within one or more food groups, either in all dimensions simultaneously or one dimension at a time, and without changing the total amount of the food groups. Our study was based on observed adult diets from the latest French Individual and National Food Consumption (INCA3) Survey. The diet quality of diversified diets was assessed using scores for nutrient adequacy, nutrient security (risk of overt deficiency), and moderation (avoiding excessive intake of some nutrients). In the modeled diets, diversity was increased within 18 food groups according to each dimension. Results The Vegetables group was the only group where increased diversity consistently improved or maintained diet quality scores across all dimensions, with changes ranging from 0% to +4.4% compared to the observed diets. Increased diversity was also beneficial within "Bread products" (-1.0% to +4.7%), driven by higher fiber and magnesium intake due to partially replacing refined bread with wholegrain bread, and within "Fish and seafood" (-0.3% to +5.2%), attributed to higher EPA+DHA intake from partially replacing lean fish and seafood with fatty fish. In contrast, increased diversity within "Dairy" had an overall negative effect, resulting in decreases in nutrient adequacy (-1.8% to 0.0%) and moderation (-3.1% to -0.1%) due to partially replacing milk with cheese and dairy desserts. For other food groups, the effects of increased diversity were mixed and depended on the dimension of diversity applied. For example, increasing nutritional dissimilarity within "Grains and potatoes" improved diet quality, whereas increasing evenness did not. Conclusions The effect of dietary diversity on diet quality is dependent on food groups and dimensions. Specifying subgroups to be recommended within food categories could improve diet quality.

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Dates et versions

hal-05296331 , version 1 (03-10-2025)

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  • HAL Id : hal-05296331 , version 1

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Anaëlle Bolo, Sarah Chabert, Jean-François Huneau, Hélène Fouillet, François Mariotti. When does dietary diversity enhance diet quality? The importance of food groups and dimensions. International Congress of Nutrition, IUNS; SFN; FFN, Aug 2025, Paris, France. ⟨hal-05296331⟩
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