# Indigenous food environment and dietary patterns of Munda community of Jharkhand, India

## TL;DR

This study explores how the Munda community in Jharkhand, India, adapts its diet based on seasonal and environmental factors, revealing patterns influenced by food access and family structure.

## Contribution

The study identifies distinct dietary patterns in the Munda community linked to food environment and socio-demographic factors, offering insights for nutrition policies.

## Key findings

- Three dietary patterns were identified: nature-procured, market-dominant, and mixed-source.
- Households with higher food access diversity had higher odds of adopting a mixed-source dietary pattern.
- Nuclear families showed higher odds of market-dominant and nature-procured dietary patterns in winter.

## Abstract

Indigenous communities in India are experiencing nutrition transition and facing its health and nutritional consequences. Exploring dietary patterns of one such community, the Munda tribes, can provide crucial information on how diverse food environment is translating into their dietary patterns.

A cross-sectional study was conducted in 201 households of the Munda community of Jharkhand, India. Household surveys elicited information on socio-demographic and food access profile while a pre-tested food frequency questionnaire was used to assess dietary intake at HH level in monsoon (n = 160 HH) and winter (n = 100 HH). Factor analysis was used to derive dietary patterns and associations were explored between dietary patterns, food environment, and socio-demographic factors.

Three dietary patterns, each for monsoon and winter seasons, were identified in Munda community. These included “natured-procured dietary pattern” (majority of foods procured from nature like farms, forests, and water sources), “market-dominant dietary pattern” (majority of foods from the market) and “mixed-source dietary pattern” comprising indigenous and non-indigenous foods accessed from diverse sources, including natural food environments and markets Upon exploring the associations of dietary pattern scores with sociodemographic and food environment factors, it was seen that households with higher food access diversity scores had 3.93 times the odds of consuming more “mixed-source dietary pattern” (p-value < 0.05) during monsoon season. For the winter season, families living in nuclear family setup had significantly higher odds of consuming more market-dominant and nature-procured dietary patterns (p-value < 0.05), as compared to joint/extended families.

The study provides valuable insights regarding the reliance of indigenous communities on natural food sources and their food procurement behaviour from markets. The socio-demographic matrix in terms of resource pooling was associated with market-dominant dietary patterns, whereby households accessing diverse food sources demonstrated higher score of mixed-source dietary patterns. The study can inform current policies and programs to address nutrition transition and mainstream indigenous wisdom and knowledge to improve diets of nutritionally vulnerable indigenous communities.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40795-025-01159-2.