# Concordance of Dietary Diversity and Moderation Among 28,787 Mother‐Child Dyads in 11 Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries: Implications for Global Monitoring and Targeted Nutrition Actions

## TL;DR

This study finds that mothers and children in 11 low- and middle-income countries have similar dietary diversity, but with key differences in specific food groups.

## Contribution

The study provides empirical evidence on dietary concordance between mothers and children in low- and middle-income countries, supporting targeted nutrition policies.

## Key findings

- Maternal dietary diversity strongly correlates with children's dietary diversity across 11 countries.
- Mothers consume more pulses, nuts, and vitamin A-rich foods, while children consume more dairy and eggs.
- Higher maternal diversity is linked to better nutritious food consumption in children.

## Abstract

In 2025, the ‘Prevalence of minimum dietary diversity’ among infants and young children (IYC) aged 6–23 months and females aged 15–49 years was adopted as an additional Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger indicator. Previous studies, mainly in high‐income countries, have reported that children's diets bear weak to moderate resemblance of their mothers' diets. Therefore, this study assessed i) the rank correlation between Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MDD‐W) and MDD‐IYC prevalence at country‐level and ii) the associations and concordance of nutritious and unhealthy food group consumption among mother‐child dyads using nationally representative survey data from 11 low‐ and middle‐income countries. MDD‐W was significantly higher than MDD‐IYC in each survey, but the indicators nonetheless rank correlated very strongly across countries. Discordance favoured mothers for pulses, nuts and seeds; flesh foods; vitamin A‐rich fruits and vegetables (F&V); other F&V; and fried and salty foods, while the opposite was observed for dairy products, eggs, and sweet drinks. Higher maternal dietary diversity was strongly associated with higher diversity in nutritious food group consumption among children in each country. Lastly, mothers consuming five or more out of 10 nutritious food groups—in other words, achieving MDD‐W—best discriminated whether children achieved MDD‐IYC or not. In conclusion, MDD‐IYC and MDD‐W data provide complementary insights for targeted and context‐specific food and nutrition policies and programmes, such as behavioural change and nutrition education interventions and food environment regulations, needed to improve dietary diversity and moderation of unhealthy food groups among both IYC and females of childbearing age.

Maternal and child dietary diversity were strongly rank correlated in 11 low‐and middle‐income countries. Mothers were, however, more likely to consume pulses, nuts and seeds; flesh foods; vitamin A‐rich fruits and vegetables (F&V); other F&V; and fried and salty foods than their child, while the opposite was observed for dairy products, eggs, and sweet drinks.

MDD‐W and MDD‐IYC—adopted as additional SDG 2 indicators in 2025—were strongly rank‐correlated in 11 low‐ and middle‐income countries.Higher maternal dietary diversity was consistently associated with greater consumption of nutritious food group among infants and young children aged 6–24 months.Mothers were, however, more likely to consume pulses, nuts and seeds; flesh foods; vitamin A‐rich fruits and vegetables (F&V); other F&V; and fried and salty foods, while their offspring more often consumed dairy products, eggs, and sweet drinks.These findings support targeted and context‐specific nutrition actions that enable diverse and moderate diets for all.

MDD‐W and MDD‐IYC—adopted as additional SDG 2 indicators in 2025—were strongly rank‐correlated in 11 low‐ and middle‐income countries.

Higher maternal dietary diversity was consistently associated with greater consumption of nutritious food group among infants and young children aged 6–24 months.

Mothers were, however, more likely to consume pulses, nuts and seeds; flesh foods; vitamin A‐rich fruits and vegetables (F&V); other F&V; and fried and salty foods, while their offspring more often consumed dairy products, eggs, and sweet drinks.

These findings support targeted and context‐specific nutrition actions that enable diverse and moderate diets for all.