Patterns, socioeconomic inequalities and determinants of healthy eating in Kenya: results from a national cross-sectional survey
Bibliographic record
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The burden of non-communicable diseases is rising in low-and-middle-income countries, with diet being a key risk factor. This study aimed to assess the patterns, socioeconomic inequalities and determinants of eating healthy in Kenya. The study is the first in Kenya to use a healthy diet index to assess dietary patterns. DESIGN AND METHODS: We analysed cross-sectional data from the 2015/16 Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey. The study's outcome variable was a continuous healthy diet index (HDI) constructed using principal component analysis from nine WHO/Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) healthy diet recommendations. The HDI score and WHO/FAO healthy diet recommendations met were summarised for Kenyan households. Using the concentration index, we examined the socioeconomic disparities in healthy eating. In addition, multivariable linear regression was used to determine factors that influence healthy eating in Kenya. RESULTS: A total of 21 512 households in Kenya were included, of which 60% were rural and about two-thirds headed by males. The HDI score ranged between -1.13 and 1.70, with a higher value indicating healthier eating. Overall, the average HDI score was 0.24 (95% CI: 0.24 to 0.25), interpreted as moderate. We identified key determinants including socioeconomic status and urban-rural residency differences. Healthy eating was concentrated among higher socioeconomic households, regardless of gender or location. Higher socioeconomic status (β=0.28, 95% CI 0.26 to 0.30), rural residence (β=0.18, 95% CI 0.15 to 0.20), household head being in union (β=0.04, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.06) or employed (β=0.05, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.08) were significantly associated with increased HDI scores, whereas male-headed households and lack of education were associated with significant decreases in HDI scores on average. CONCLUSIONS: Most Kenyan households do not meet all the healthy dietary recommendations, and socioeconomic inequalities exist in eating healthy. Targeted interventions that promote healthy eating based on key determinants in Kenya are required.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".