Abstract
Background
Household food-product variety reflects the breadth of foods reported as available to households but does not directly measure dietary diversity, diet quality, nutrient adequacy, or food insecurity. We examined national trends in low available food variety among Peruvian households from 2015 to 2024 and associated socioeconomic and territorial factors.
Methods
We conducted a repeated cross-sectional analysis of nationally representative ENAHO data from 2015–2024. Low available food variety was defined as ≤71 distinct food products at the household level, corresponding to the lower pooled tertile of the survey-weighted distribution. Survey-weighted prevalence estimates and prevalence ratios were obtained using modified Poisson regression with robust variance, accounting for the complex survey design.
Results
The analysis included 340,296 households, of which 34.2% met the study-specific definition of low available food variety. Prevalence decreased from 33.8% in 2015–2019 to 29.5% in 2020–2021, then increased to 38.0% in 2022–2024, reaching 40.1% in 2024. Compared with 2015–2019, prevalence was higher in 2022–2024 (aPR: 1.28; 95% CI: 1.26–1.30). Higher adjusted prevalence was also observed among households in the Rainforest region, those living in extreme poverty, and those in the lowest tertile of per-capita food expenditure.
Conclusion
Low available food variety increased after 2021 and showed marked socioeconomic and territorial inequalities. These findings reflect differences in household food-product availability and should not be interpreted as direct evidence of dietary diversity, diet quality, nutrient adequacy, or food insecurity.