Kolbila Paula Malebna, Abdul-Samed Musah, Rahama Seidu, Apau-Tete Afia Aboabea, Abugri Bruce A, Amoore Bright Yammaha, Gaa Patience K, Mogre Victor
Department of Community and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana.
Department of Nutritional Sciences, School of Allied Health Sciences, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana.
Front Nutr. 2025 Sep 2;12:1633285. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1633285. eCollection 2025.
Unhealthy eating patterns increase the risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. A healthy diet should provide energy and nutrients for growth, maintenance, activity, and infection prevention. Global indicators include dietary diversity score, following recommended food groups, and NCD-protective consumption. We assessed dietary patterns and associated demographic factors among adult Ghanaians from northern Ghana using indicators aligned with global recommendations for healthy eating.
A cross-sectional design was employed, utilizing a diet quality questionnaire (DQ-Q) to evaluate five indicators: food group diversity score (FGDS), all-5 recommended food groups, NCD-protect scores, NCD-risk scores, and global dietary recommendation (GDR) scores. Data analysis incorporated Spearman's rho, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis tests, and multiple linear regression to explore associations.
A total of 842 participants were recruited. In which 96.4% consumed starchy staples, over 90% ate vegetables, and 70% included fruits in their diet. Mean (SD) scores for FGDS, NCD-protect, World Health Organization (WHO) all-five food groups, NCD-risk, and GDR were 10, 9, 5, 8, and 18, respectively. A moderately positive correlation was observed between NCD-protect scores and FGDS ( = 0.763, = 0.001), as well as with WHO all-five groups ( = 0.688, < 0.001). Higher education was the strongest predictor of better diet quality-those with secondary education ate more protective foods, had greater dietary diversity, and better WHO-recommended food adherence-while Mole-Dagbani/Gonja ethnicity was consistently associated with poorer diet quality; married/cohabiting status modestly increased both protective and risk food consumption, and each additional year of age slightly reduced NCD-risk food intake.
Consumption of staple foods was widespread. Vegetables were consumed frequently, but not fruits. Diets were only moderately diverse, and dietary patterns reflecting NCD-risk factors were prevalent. Dietary patterns reflecting NCD-risk factors were widespread. Ethnicity, marital status, and employment status significantly predicted diet quality indicators, informing future dietary guidelines.
不健康的饮食模式会增加患非传染性疾病（如2型糖尿病、心脏病和癌症）的风险。健康的饮食应为生长、维持、活动及预防感染提供能量和营养。全球指标包括饮食多样性得分、遵循推荐食物组以及对非传染性疾病有保护作用的食物摄入量。我们使用与全球健康饮食建议一致的指标，评估了来自加纳北部的成年加纳人的饮食模式及相关人口统计学因素。
采用横断面设计，使用饮食质量问卷（DQ-Q）评估五个指标：食物组多样性得分（FGDS）、全部五种推荐食物组、非传染性疾病保护得分、非传染性疾病风险得分和全球饮食建议（GDR）得分。数据分析采用斯皮尔曼等级相关系数、曼-惠特尼检验、克鲁斯卡尔-沃利斯检验和多元线性回归来探索相关性。
共招募了842名参与者。其中，96.4%的人食用淀粉类主食，超过90%的人吃蔬菜，70%的人在饮食中包含水果。FGDS、非传染性疾病保护、世界卫生组织（WHO）全部五种食物组、非传染性疾病风险和GDR的平均（标准差）得分分别为10、9、5、8和18。在非传染性疾病保护得分与FGDS之间观察到中度正相关（=0.763，=0.001），与WHO全部五种食物组之间也呈中度正相关（=0.688，<0.001）。高等教育是饮食质量更好的最强预测因素——受过中等教育的人食用更多具有保护作用的食物，饮食多样性更高，对WHO推荐食物的依从性更好——而莫勒-达格巴尼/贡贾族一直与较差的饮食质量相关；已婚/同居状况适度增加了具有保护作用和有风险的食物消费，年龄每增加一岁，非传染性疾病风险食物摄入量略有减少。
主食消费普遍。蔬菜食用频繁，但水果并非如此。饮食多样性仅为中等水平，反映非传染性疾病风险因素的饮食模式普遍存在。反映非传染性疾病风险因素的饮食模式广泛存在。种族、婚姻状况和就业状况显著预测了饮食质量指标，为未来的饮食指南提供了参考。
