Dietary diversity in urban and rural elderly living in Patiala district of Punjab

The present study was carried out to investigate dietary diversity among urban as well as rural elderly. Two hundred elderly, 100 each from rural and urban area, 60-80 years of age were selected from the Patiala district by random sampling. Food and nutrient related information were determined through a dietary survey using a questionnaire in which information regarding dietary habits and dietary patterns was collected. The results showed that the intake of cereals (292 g), green leafy vegetables (42.74 g), milk and milk products (431.83 g), sugars (32.49 g) and fats and oils (39.82 g) was higher in rural men as compared to the urban men who had higher intake of other food groups i.e., other vegetables (81.36) and fruits (308.88 g). The mean dietary diversity score of urban elderly ranged between 7-10 for both men and women with the mean values of 7.92 and 7.98, respectively whereas the corresponding values for rural elderly ranged between 6-10 in men and 5-10 in women with mean values of 7.64 and 7.48, respectively. The study concluded that there was a higher dietary diversity and food variety score with optimum mean adequacy ratio in the selected elderly population.