National level nutrition surveys in Bangladesh
have mostly been based on small samples,
which have yielded nutrition, and consumption
estimates inconsistent with the level and trends
of food production data. This has generated
controversy regarding the trends in food
consumption and nutrition of the population. An
alternative source of information on food
consumption is the Household Income and
Expenditure Surveys (HIES) conducted by the
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics at a more
frequent interval than the national Nutrition
Surveys and based on a fairly large nationally
representative sample. This study estimates the
nutrient intakes of the Bangladeshi population
by applying the Gopalan et al standard table of
nutrient composition of different food items on
the estimates of food consumption reported by
the most recent HIES (2000) to assess the
deficiency in the intake of major nutrients for
the Bangladeshi population. It also estimates
the diversity of food consumption for different
group of households as a measure of nutritional
imbalance. Finally, the study relates the diversity
of consumption and the intake of nutrients to
major socio-economic and demographic
variables, such as age, sex and education of
household head, location, religion, access to
electricity, access to sanitary latrine, household
income, land ownership of the household and
occupation of the household head using a
multiple regression model.