TY - JOUR

T1 - Wild foods contribute to women’s higher dietary diversity in India

AU - Cheek, Jennifer Zavaleta

AU - Lambrecht, Nathalie J.

AU - den Braber, Bowy

AU - Akanchha, Nirali

AU - Govindarajulu, Dhanapal

AU - Jones, Andrew D.

AU - Chhatre, Ashwini

AU - Rasmussen, Laura Vang

N1 - Funding Information: We thank F. Jalali and the Revitalizing Rainfed Agriculture Network for their logistical support collecting the data. We also acknowledge funding from the Borlaug Fellowship in Global Food Security Program; Marshall Weinberg Population, Development and Climate Change, Dow Environmental Sustainability Doctoral Fellowship; and from Rackham Graduate School at the University of Michigan. B.d.B. and L.V.R. were funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement no. 853222 FORESTDIET). Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Wild foods, from forests and common lands, can contribute to food and nutrition security. Most previous studies have established correlations between wild food consumption and children’s dietary diversity in Africa, but other groups and geographic contexts remain understudied. Here a rigorous quasi-experimental method was combined with monthly interval data to assess the contribution of wild foods to women’s diets. We collected 24 h diet recall data monthly, from November 2016 to November 2017, from 570 households in East India. We found that wild foods contributed positively to diets, especially in June and July (when consumption of wild foods was highest). Women who consumed wild foods had higher average dietary diversity scores (13% and 9% higher in June and July, respectively) and were more likely to consume nutrient-dense, dark-green leafy vegetables than those who did not. Our results underscore the importance of policies that increase knowledge of wild foods and protect people’s rights to access forests and other common lands for improved nutrition.

AB - Wild foods, from forests and common lands, can contribute to food and nutrition security. Most previous studies have established correlations between wild food consumption and children’s dietary diversity in Africa, but other groups and geographic contexts remain understudied. Here a rigorous quasi-experimental method was combined with monthly interval data to assess the contribution of wild foods to women’s diets. We collected 24 h diet recall data monthly, from November 2016 to November 2017, from 570 households in East India. We found that wild foods contributed positively to diets, especially in June and July (when consumption of wild foods was highest). Women who consumed wild foods had higher average dietary diversity scores (13% and 9% higher in June and July, respectively) and were more likely to consume nutrient-dense, dark-green leafy vegetables than those who did not. Our results underscore the importance of policies that increase knowledge of wild foods and protect people’s rights to access forests and other common lands for improved nutrition.

U2 - 10.1038/s43016-023-00766-1

DO - 10.1038/s43016-023-00766-1

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 37349564

AN - SCOPUS:85162578726

VL - 4

SP - 476

EP - 482

JO - Nature Food

JF - Nature Food

SN - 2662-1355

ER -