The Role of Agricultural Biodiversity in The Diet: a Vietnamese Study

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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What is the role of Agricultural biodiversity in improving diet diversity, quality and nutrition?

Detailed Description
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Agricultural biodiversity can have an important role in improving diet diversity, quality and nutrition and can be seen as the foundation of the food and nutrition value chain. Increasing the availability and access to local agricultural and/or wild biodiversity genetic resources has the potential to increase production, making more food available for consumption as long as entitlements to access it exist. However, as the history of food security interventions has shown, increasing the production and supply of staple crops alone is not enough to improve food security or nutritional status. However, while agricultural diversification is an important component, it is not alone sufficient to improve diet diversity. Other system elements including women's education and knowledge, intra-household dynamics and women's status and cultural beliefs and practices that improves children's health and nutrition are important to ensure biodiversity has a successful role in improving dietary diversity and quality.

Official Title
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The Role of Agricultural Biodiversity in The Diet: a Vietnamese Study

Conditions
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Food Intake, Biodiversity

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Promotion of a biodiverse diet


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Woman of reproductive age (between 15-49 years) who are the mother or primary caregiver of a child between 12 and 23 months of age. Both the woman and the child should be permanent residents in the village selected and do not temporarily migrate outside the village cluster during the year. Reside in a Thai Village Exclusion Criteria: Reside in a village that is the Urban center of commune/province Currently engaged in other agriculture or nutrition programme or Intervention apart from what is offered by government extension workers

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 12 Months
Maximum Age: 55 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Intervention<br>The intervention group will receive capacity building sessions on the 'Promotion of a biodiverse diet' and will include both Agriculture and Nutrition topics, in addition to access to routine health and nutrition checks, and agriculture extension as offered by commune and provincial staff as normal. 5 Sessions will be held in each village over 12 months. | Behavioral: Promotion of a biodiverse diet<br>* Nutrition education combined with Agriculture Capacity building focused on a key set of nutritious crops. Component (C) 1 - Participatory Identification of Intervention Approach (PIIA); C2 - Local stakeholder consultation; C3 - Sensitisation of community; C4 - Formation of Diversity club. Club will receive capacity building from a Village health worker. The following topics will be covered species selected for promotion: 1. Where to locally source inputs and expected price, 2. How/when to prepare plots using organic inputs, 3. Planting and best-practice management practices, 4. Seed saving and storage and 4. Active Cooking demonstrations and Nutrition Education and counselling including Diversified cooking practices<br>|
| No Intervention: Control<br>The control group will continue to receive routine health check and nutrition education from health staff at commune health facilities. Access to agriculture extension services as offered by provincial staff will also continue as normal. | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Mean intakes (g) of Dark Green leafy vegetables, Vitamin A Rich Fruit and Vegetable and Legumes, nuts and seeds | Mean intakes (g) of Dark Green leafy vegetables, Vitamin A Rich Fruit and Vegetable and Legumes, nuts and seeds by mothers and young children. Collected through administration of 24hour dietary recall | 12 months | 
| Proportion of women and children consuming Dark Green leafy vegetables, Vitamin A Rich Fruit and Vegetable and Legumes, nuts and seeds by mothers and young children | Proportion of women and children consuming Dark Green leafy vegetables, Vitamin A Rich Fruit and Vegetable and Legumes, nuts and seeds by mothers and young children. Collected through administration of 24hour dietary recall | 12 months | 
| Proportion of women and children reaching EAR of iron and vitamin A | Proportion of women and children reaching EAR of iron and vitamin A. Collected through administration of 24hour dietary recall | 12 months | 
| Mean species richness consumed daily | Mean species richness consumed daily. Collected through administration of 24hour dietary recall | 12 months | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Proportion of women and children reaching EAR of 16 key nutrients | Proportion of women and children reaching EAR of 16 key nutrients. Collected through administration of 24hour dietary recall | 12 months | 
| Nutritional Knowledge of Women, score | Nutrition Knowledge Score. Collected through a Questionnaire. | 12 months | 
| Individual Dietary Diversity Score - Women - Score constructed of number of food groups consumed out of 10 | Individual Dietary Diversity Score of women. Score constructed of number of food groups consumed out of 10. Collected through administration of 24hour dietary recall | 12 months | 
| Individual Dietary Diversity Score - Children. Score constructed of count of number of food groups consumed out of 7 | Individual Dietary Diversity Score children. Score constructed of count of number of food groups consumed out of 7.Collected through administration of 24hour dietary recall | 12 months | 
| Minimum Dietary Diversity - Women - Proportion of women that consumed 5 or more food groups (out of 10). | Proportion of women that consumed 5 or more food groups (out of 10). Collected through administration of 24hour dietary recall | 12 months | 
| Minimum Dietary Diversity - Children - Proportion of children that consumed 4 or more food groups (out of 7). | Proportion of children that consumed 4 or more food groups (out of 7). Collected through administration of 24hour dietary recall | 12 months | 
| Child nutritional status - Wasting/Overweight - Mean change from baseline in weight-for-height Z-scores. The following measurements will be directly collected Height/Length (cm) and Weight (Kg) | Wasting/Overweight - Mean change from baseline in weight-for-height Z-scores. The following measurements will be directly collected Height/Length (cm) and Weight (Kg) and used to calculate the final indicator | 12 months | 
| Child nutritional status - Stunting - Mean change from baseline in height-for-age Z-scores The following direct measurements will be collected Age (months), Height/Length (cm) | Stunting - Mean change from baseline in height-for-age Z-scores The following direct measurements will be collected Age (months), Height/Length (cm) and used to calculate the final indicator. | 12 months | 
| Child nutritional status - Underweight - Mean change from baseline in weight-for-age Z-scores The following direct measurements will be collected Age (months) and Weight (Kg) | Underweight - Mean change from baseline in weight-for-age Z-scores The following direct measurements will be collected Age (months) and Weight (Kg) and used to calculate the final indicator | 12 months | 
| Mean daily intakes (g) of processed foods and drinks | Mean daily intakes (g) of processed foods and drinks. Collected through administration of 24hour dietary recall | 12 months | 
| Mean proportion of daily energy, fat, salt and sugar intakes from processed foods | Mean proportion of daily energy, fat, salt and sugar intakes from processed foods. Collected through administration of 24hour dietary recall | 12 months | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Diet Diversity, Biodiversity, Agrobiodiversity, Nutrition, Vietnam