Subscribe

Back

Who we are

With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

Erick Boy

researcher spotlight

Erick Boy

Erick Boy is the Chief Nutritionist in the HarvestPlus section of the Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit. As head of nutrition for the HarvestPlus Program since 2008, he has led research that has generated scientific evidence on biofortified staple crops as efficacious and effective interventions to help address iron, vitamin A, and zinc deficiency in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and South Asia.

Back

What we do

Since 1975, IFPRI’s research has been informing policies and development programs to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods around the world.

Research topics

Projects and impact

Modeling tools

Project microsites

What’s new

Where we work

Back

Where we work

IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 80 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

IFPRI Regional Programs

IFPRI Country Programs

Research by country and region

Subscribe

experts

Nutrition, Diets, and Health

Loty Diop

Senior Research Analyst

Follow

Loty

at:

ORCiD

Bio

Loty Diop is a Senior Research Analyst in the Nutrition, Health, and Diets Unit, based in Dakar, Senegal, where she works on projects that tackle food security and acute malnutrition. These projects involve assessing the nutritional status and micronutrient adequacy of the diets of vulnerable populations, as well as conducting in-depth analyses of the food environment.

Loty earned a BS in statistics and an MSc in public health.

Languages: French, English

Google Scholar Citations

Publications

Resource thumbnail

Journal Article

Validation of the Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS) among children 10 to 14 years of age

2025
Batis, Carolina; Castellanos-Gutiérrez, Analí; Ali, Nazia Binte; Arsenault, Joanne E.; Atayde, Agata M. P.; Bromage, Sabri; Deitchler, Megan; Diop, Loty; Gelli, Aulo; Kehoe, Sarah H.
…more Leonardo, Sofia; Moursi, Mourad; Nkengfack, Brunhilda Tegomoh; Willett, Walter C.
Details

Validation of the Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS) among children 10 to 14 years of age

Objective We aimed to evaluate the performance of the Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS) in predicting nutrient intake and health outcomes among children aged 10–14 years old in Mexico, the United States, the United Kingdom, and China. For comparison, we evaluated other dietary metrics (Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women [MDD-W], the Global Dietary Recommendations score [GDR], and the Healthy Eating Index–2020 [HEI-2020]). Background Given the magnitude of the health burden associated with all forms of malnutrition, monitoring dietary quality is fundamental to improving global health. Early adolescence is a key stage of development, and thus validated tools to measure diet quality that are pertinent for the global context are needed. Methods The GDQS and comparison metrics were estimated from 24-hour dietary recalls (Mexico: n = 2533; United States: n = 685; China: n = 1087, and United Kingdom: n = 1675). Regression models were conducted to evaluate the association between the change in 1 SD of each metric score and usual intake of nutrients, mean probability of nutrient adequacy, and biomarker and anthropometric outcomes adjusted by age, sex, socioeconomic status, educational level, urban/rural area, and usual energy intake (for dietary outcomes). Results The GDQS showed a higher diet quality in China (16.7 points) and Mexico (15.9 points), followed by the United States (13.6 points) and the United Kingdom (12.2 points). The GDQS was found to be associated with the intake of micronutrients as well as noncommunicable disease (NCD)–related nutrients (fiber, added sugar, and saturated fat) (P < .05). The performance of the GDQS was comparable to all other metrics; yet, in the case of NCD-related nutrients the MDD-W was slightly inferior. Few associations were found across countries and metrics with biomarker and anthropometric outcomes. Conclusion The GDQS was associated with the intake of micronutrients and NCD-related nutrients; these results suggest that the GDQS is an appropriate tool to monitor dietary quality among 10–14-year-olds across several contexts globally.

Year published

2025

Authors

Batis, Carolina; Castellanos-Gutiérrez, Analí; Ali, Nazia Binte; Arsenault, Joanne E.; Atayde, Agata M. P.; Bromage, Sabri; Deitchler, Megan; Diop, Loty; Gelli, Aulo; Kehoe, Sarah H.; Leonardo, Sofia; Moursi, Mourad; Nkengfack, Brunhilda Tegomoh; Willett, Walter C.

Citation

Batis, Carolina; Castellanos-Gutiérrez, Analí; Ali, Nazia Binte; Arsenault, Joanne E; Atayde, Agata M P; Bromage, Sabri; et al. 2025. Validation of the Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS) among children 10 to 14 years of age. Nutrition Reviews 83(Supplement 1): 50–60. https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuaf006

Country/Region

Mexico; United States; United Kingdom; China

Keywords

Northern America; Americas; Western Europe; Europe; Asia; Eastern Asia; Diet Quality; Children; Nutrient Intake; Health; Adolescents

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuaf006 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

Resource thumbnail

Journal Article

Development and validation of the global diet quality score (GDQS) for children 24 to 59 months of age

2025
Ali, Nazia Binte; Arsenault, Joanne E.; Castellanos-Gutiérrez, Analí; Moursi, Mourad; Deitchler, Megan; Batis, Carolina; Atayde, Agata Marina Perez; Kehoe, Sarah H.; Tadesse, Amare W.; Leonardo, Sofia
…more Nkengfack, Brunhilda Tegomoh; Diop, Loty; Gelli, Aulo; Fawzi, Wafaie W.; Willett, Walter C.; Bromage, Sabri
Details

Development and validation of the global diet quality score (GDQS) for children 24 to 59 months of age

Objectives To develop the Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS) for children aged 24-59 months and evaluate its performance in predicting outcomes related to nutrient adequacy and diet-related noncommunicable disease (NCD) risk. Background The GDQS is a food-based metric developed and validated for capturing diets’ contributions to nutrient adequacy and NCD risk among adult men and nonpregnant and nonlactating women aged ≥15 years globally. Despite the importance of ensuring healthy diets in preschool children and the need for systematic monitoring, no food-based metrics exist that holistically measure diet quality among children aged 24-59 months in diverse populations. Methods We developed candidate versions of the GDQS for children aged 24-59 months by adapting the gram cutoff values used for adults to account for children’s lower energy requirements. Using dietary data sets from Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, China, Ethiopia, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States, we evaluated candidate versions’ performance in predicting energy-adjusted nutrient intakes and adequacy, nutritional biomarkers, and overweight using Spearman’s correlation and multivariable-adjusted regression models, and we statistically compared performance of the strongest candidate with that of the Minimum Dietary Diversity–Women (MDD-W) indicator and Global Dietary Recommendations (GDR) score. Results The GDQS exhibited significant (P <.05) positive correlations with energy-adjusted intakes of protein, fiber, and most micronutrients in most data sets; significant negative correlations with added sugar and saturated fat in 2 data sets; and inconsistent correlations with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat. In multivariable-adjusted models, the GDQS, MDD-W, and GDR were positively associated with serum folate in Ethiopia (and the GDQS was in the United Kingdom), and the GDR was positively associated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in China (P <.05). The GDQS was more strongly associated with the mean probability of adequacy of 8 nutrients than the GDR in 2 data sets, whereas the MDD-W outperformed the GDQS in 3 data sets (P <.05). Conclusion The GDQS is a useful metric for measuring diet quality among children aged 24-59 months in diverse populations.

Year published

2025

Authors

Ali, Nazia Binte; Arsenault, Joanne E.; Castellanos-Gutiérrez, Analí; Moursi, Mourad; Deitchler, Megan; Batis, Carolina; Atayde, Agata Marina Perez; Kehoe, Sarah H.; Tadesse, Amare W.; Leonardo, Sofia; Nkengfack, Brunhilda Tegomoh; Diop, Loty; Gelli, Aulo; Fawzi, Wafaie W.; Willett, Walter C.; Bromage, Sabri

Citation

Ali, Nazia Binte; Arsenault, Joanne E.; Castellanos-Gutiérrez, Analí; Moursi, Mourad; Deitchler, Megan; et al. 2025. Development and validation of the global diet quality score (GDQS) for children 24 to 59 months of age. Nutrition Reviews 83(Supplement 1): 17-36. https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuaf005

Keywords

Diet Quality; Measurement; Preschool Children; Child Nutrition; Nutrient Intake; Non-communicable Diseases

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuaf005 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

Resource thumbnail

Journal Article

Development and validation of the global diet quality score (GDQS) for children 5 to 9 years of age

2025
Arsenault, Joanne E.; Ali, Nazia Binte; Atayde, Agata M. P.; Batis, Carolina; Becquey, Elodie; Bromage, Sabri; Deitchler, Megan; Diop, Loty; Gelli, Aulo; Castellanos Gutierrez, Anali
…more Kehoe, Sarah H.; Krishnaveni, Ghattu V.; Leonardo, Sofia; Moursi, Mourad; Nkengfack, Brunhilda Tegomoh
Details

Development and validation of the global diet quality score (GDQS) for children 5 to 9 years of age

Objective The purpose of the study was to develop and validate a Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS) for children aged 5–9 years adapted from the existing GDQS developed for adults. Background Diet quality is important for nutrient adequacy and risk of nutrition-related chronic disease. A diet quality metric for global use with children is needed. Methods The 25 food groups of the GDQS were used to assign points for categories of consumption according to gram-weight cutoffs adapted for children based on energy requirements. As a preliminary step, alternative versions of gram-weight cutoffs were tested by comparing correlation analyses using 4 existing dietary datasets from low-, middle-, and high-income countries. A final GDQS metric version, selected based on strength of correlations and operational feasibility, was further examined in regression analyses with individual nutrient intake an overall nutrient intake adequacy score and biomarker and anthropometry outcomes in 7 dietary datasets from different countries. Regressions were also undertaken with other diet quality metrics to compare their relative performance with that of the GDQS. Results The GDQS had strong associations with most nutrient intakes, including an overall mean nutrient adequacy score and some nutrients associated with noncommunicable disease risk, such as fiber and added sugar. Biomarker data were limited in the available datasets and few associations with GDQS were found. The GDQS performed better or as well as other dietary quality metrics in predicting nutrient intakes. Conclusion The GDQS was associated with nutrient intakes and fills a gap in a global diet quality metric for children. The GDQS will be a useful tool to measure diet quality and monitoring changes in diet quality over time.

Year published

2025

Authors

Arsenault, Joanne E.; Ali, Nazia Binte; Atayde, Agata M. P.; Batis, Carolina; Becquey, Elodie; Bromage, Sabri; Deitchler, Megan; Diop, Loty; Gelli, Aulo; Castellanos Gutierrez, Anali; Kehoe, Sarah H.; Krishnaveni, Ghattu V.; Leonardo, Sofia; Moursi, Mourad; Nkengfack, Brunhilda Tegomoh

Citation

Arsenault, Joanne E.; Ali, Nazia Binte; Atayde, Agata M. P.; Batis, Carolina; Becquey, Elodie; et al. 2025. Development and validation of the global diet quality score (GDQS) for children 5 to 9 years of age. Nutrition Reviews 83(Supplement 1): 37-49. https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuae146

Keywords

Non-communicable Diseases; Diet Quality; Children; Nutrient Intake; Measurement

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuae146 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

Blogs

Transform Nutrition West Africa builds knowledge for decision-makers
IFPRI Blog
 | 
March 07, 2025

Transform Nutrition West Africa builds knowledge for decision-makers

By Tamsin Zandstra, Roos Verstraeten, Ampa Dogui Diatta, Loty Diop, and Mariama Touré

Informing policies in four countries.

Events

Micronutrient Forum: 5th Global Conference
Series/Special Event

 | 

November 9 to 13, 2020

Micronutrient Forum: 5th Global Conference

IFPRI is participating in the Micronutrient Forum’s 5th Global Conference on “Building New Evidence and Alliances for Improving Nutrition.” Food systems are at the heart of determining what people eat. Micronutrients are at the heart of the potential of food systems to deliver optimal health. The 2020 Micronutrient Forum conference will continue to cover the broad […]