Unhealthy food consumption and its determinants among children aged 6-23 months in Bangladesh: insights from the Demographic and Health Survey 2022.

IF 3.5 2区医学 Q1 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

BMC Public Health Pub Date : 2025-07-18 DOI:10.1186/s12889-025-23668-2

Rafid Hassan, Md Shahadoth Hossain, Md Jarif Mahbub, Md Ruhul Amin, Sanjib Saha

{"title":"Unhealthy food consumption and its determinants among children aged 6-23 months in Bangladesh: insights from the Demographic and Health Survey 2022.","authors":"Rafid Hassan, Md Shahadoth Hossain, Md Jarif Mahbub, Md Ruhul Amin, Sanjib Saha","doi":"10.1186/s12889-025-23668-2","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Background: Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including Bangladesh, are experiencing a nutritional transition characterized by rising unhealthy food consumption (UFC), which increases the risk of nutrient deficiencies and chronic diseases in children. Despite this concern, research on UFC among Bangladeshi children aged 6-23 months is limited. Therefore, this study aims to estimate the prevalence and identify the factors contributing to UFC in this age group.Methods: This study analyzed the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2022 dataset, including 2,499 children aged 6-23 months. UFC was defined as the consumption of sweetened beverages or sentinel unhealthy foods within the past 24 hours. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with UFC.Results: The prevalence of UFC among children was 61.8%, with 49.2% consuming sentinel unhealthy foods and 31.4% consuming sweetened beverages. The strongest predictor of UFC was older child aged 18-23 months (AOR: 3.31, 95% CI: 2.55-4.32), and consuming minimum diversified diet (AOR: 2.50, 95% CI: 1.98-3.15). Other significant factors included recent morbidity (AOR: 1.24, 95% CI: 1.01-1.53), maternal employment (AOR: 1.36, 95% CI: 1.04-1.77), media exposure (AOR: 1.28, 95% CI: 1.02-1.59), and lower paternal education [primary (AOR: 1.72, 95% CI: 1.21-2.44); secondary (AOR: 1.58, 95% CI: 1.14-2.18)]. However, maternal decision-making power (AOR: 0.75, 95% CI: 0.58-0.96) and intended pregnancies (AOR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.59-0.97) were associated with lower odds of UFC. Regional disparities were observed, with higher UFC prevalence in Dhaka, Khulna, Mymensingh, Rajshahi, and Rangpur.Conclusion: The study highlights Bangladeshi children's high prevalence of UFC, which demands public health interventions together with integrating behavior change communication into health, community and family-level services.","PeriodicalId":9039,"journal":{"name":"BMC Public Health","volume":"25 1","pages":"2498"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12273152/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"BMC Public Health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-23668-2","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including Bangladesh, are experiencing a nutritional transition characterized by rising unhealthy food consumption (UFC), which increases the risk of nutrient deficiencies and chronic diseases in children. Despite this concern, research on UFC among Bangladeshi children aged 6-23 months is limited. Therefore, this study aims to estimate the prevalence and identify the factors contributing to UFC in this age group.

Methods: This study analyzed the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2022 dataset, including 2,499 children aged 6-23 months. UFC was defined as the consumption of sweetened beverages or sentinel unhealthy foods within the past 24 hours. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with UFC.

Results: The prevalence of UFC among children was 61.8%, with 49.2% consuming sentinel unhealthy foods and 31.4% consuming sweetened beverages. The strongest predictor of UFC was older child aged 18-23 months (AOR: 3.31, 95% CI: 2.55-4.32), and consuming minimum diversified diet (AOR: 2.50, 95% CI: 1.98-3.15). Other significant factors included recent morbidity (AOR: 1.24, 95% CI: 1.01-1.53), maternal employment (AOR: 1.36, 95% CI: 1.04-1.77), media exposure (AOR: 1.28, 95% CI: 1.02-1.59), and lower paternal education [primary (AOR: 1.72, 95% CI: 1.21-2.44); secondary (AOR: 1.58, 95% CI: 1.14-2.18)]. However, maternal decision-making power (AOR: 0.75, 95% CI: 0.58-0.96) and intended pregnancies (AOR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.59-0.97) were associated with lower odds of UFC. Regional disparities were observed, with higher UFC prevalence in Dhaka, Khulna, Mymensingh, Rajshahi, and Rangpur.

Conclusion: The study highlights Bangladeshi children's high prevalence of UFC, which demands public health interventions together with integrating behavior change communication into health, community and family-level services.

查看原文本刊更多论文

孟加拉国6-23个月儿童的不健康食品消费及其决定因素：来自2022年人口与健康调查的见解。

背景：包括孟加拉国在内的低收入和中等收入国家正在经历以不健康食品消费（UFC）上升为特征的营养转型，这增加了儿童营养缺乏和慢性疾病的风险。尽管存在这种担忧，但对孟加拉国6-23个月儿童的UFC研究有限。因此，本研究旨在估计该年龄组UFC的患病率并确定导致UFC的因素。方法：本研究分析了孟加拉国人口与健康调查（BDHS） 2022数据集，包括2,499名6-23个月的儿童。UFC被定义为在过去24小时内饮用含糖饮料或不健康食品。多变量逻辑回归用于确定与UFC相关的因素。结果：儿童UFC患病率为61.8%，其中49.2%食用定点不健康食品，31.4%食用含糖饮料。UFC的最强预测因子是18-23个月大的儿童（AOR: 3.31, 95% CI: 2.55-4.32）和摄入最少的多样化饮食（AOR: 2.50, 95% CI: 1.98-3.15）。其他重要因素包括近期发病（AOR: 1.24, 95% CI: 1.01-1.53）、母亲就业（AOR: 1.36, 95% CI: 1.04-1.77）、媒体接触（AOR: 1.28, 95% CI: 1.02-1.59）和父亲较低的受教育程度[小学](AOR: 1.72, 95% CI: 1.21-2.44)；继发性（AOR: 1.58, 95% CI: 1.14-2.18）]。然而，产妇决策权（AOR: 0.75, 95% CI: 0.58-0.96）和预期妊娠（AOR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.59-0.97）与UFC的低发生率相关。观察到地区差异，达卡、库尔纳、迈门辛格、拉杰沙希和Rangpur的UFC患病率较高。结论：该研究突出表明，孟加拉国儿童的UFC发病率很高，因此需要采取公共卫生干预措施，并将行为改变沟通纳入卫生、社区和家庭服务。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

BMC Public Health 医学-公共卫生、环境卫生与职业卫生

CiteScore

6.50

自引率

4.40%

发文量

2108

审稿时长

1 months

期刊介绍： BMC Public Health is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers articles on the epidemiology of disease and the understanding of all aspects of public health. The journal has a special focus on the social determinants of health, the environmental, behavioral, and occupational correlates of health and disease, and the impact of health policies, practices and interventions on the community.