Associations between child diet and child development among children 36–59 months of age in 15 low-income and middle-income countries*
| Overall development off-track | Cognitive development off-track | Socioemotional development off-track | Literacy-numeracy development off-track | Physical development off-track | ||||||
| Unadjusted relative risk (95% CI) | Adjusted relative risk (95% CI) | Unadjusted relative risk (95% CI) | Adjusted relative risk (95% CI) | Unadjusted relative risk (95% CI) | Adjusted relative risk (95% CI) | Unadjusted relative risk (95% CI) | Adjusted relative risk (95% CI) | Unadjusted relative risk (95% CI) | Adjusted relative risk (95% CI) | |
| Dietary diversity score (0–7) | 0.92 (0.89 to 0.95) | 0.98 (0.95 to 1.02) | 0.92 (0.90 to 0.94) | 0.99 (0.97 to 1.01) | 1.01 (1.00 to 1.03) | 1.02 (1.00 to 1.04) | 0.97 (0.96 to 0.98) | 0.99 (0.99 to 1.00) | 0.94 (0.90 to 0.98) | 0.99 (0.95 to 1.03) |
| Minimum dietary diversity (≥4 food groups) | 0.70 (0.59 to 0.83) | 0.92 (0.78 to 1.09) | 0.65 (0.58 to 0.74) | 0.91 (0.80 to 1.03) | 1.02 (0.93 to 1.11) | 1.04 (0.95 to 1.14) | 0.86 (0.83 to 0.89) | 0.97 (0.95 to 1.00) | 0.88 (0.73 to 1.05) | 0.98 (0.81 to 1.19) |
| Consumed animal source foods | 0.8 (0.71 to 0.89) | 0.97 (0.87 to 1.10) | 0.79 (0.72 to 0.86) | 1.01 (0.93 to 1.09) | 1.04 (0.97 to 1.11) | 1.05 (0.98 to 1.12) | 0.93 (0.91 to 0.95) | 0.99 (0.97 to 1.01) | 0.94 (0.82 to 1.09) | 1.02 (0.89 to 1.18) |
*All models applied country-specific cluster variables and sampling weights. Adjusted estimates controlled for household wealth, rurality, size, access to improved sanitation and access to improved water source; maternal age, education and marital status; stimulation; child age, sex and attendance of an early childhood education programme and country and survey year.