Contribution of the biodiversity of edible plants to the diet and nutritional status of women in a Zapotec communities of the Sierra Norte, Oaxaca, Mexico

ABSTRACT

We explored the relationship between the diversity of edible plants and the nutritional status of housewives from a Zapotec municipality in Oaxaca, Mexico, during the dry and rainy seasons, and analyzed how sociodemographic variables influences this relationship. Edible plant availability, women’s dietary diversity score (WDDS), nutrient intake, and body mass index (BMI) were calculated. WDDS, intakes of energy and nutrients were mainly influenced by seasonality. Older housewives with less schooling had a higher consumption of edible plants, and better nutritional status.

KEYWORDS:

• Edible plant biodiversity
• micronutrients
• rural communities
• women’s dietary diversity score (WDDS)

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the families of the study communities for allowing us to work with them. A special thanks to the Dr. Alejandro Ponce-Mendoza for the revision of the manuscript and his valuable comments.

Authorship contribution

The first author contributed to the research conceptualization and design, data gathering, data analysis, writing, and editing. The second author contributed to the research conceptualization, data analysis and editing. The corresponding author contributed to the research conceptualization and design, data analysis and editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/03670244.2022.2154762

Additional information

Funding

Appreciation to the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) and Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) for financial support to Pascual-Mendoza (744488). Saynes-Vásquez is grateful to the IPN for participating as invited professor. Pérez-Herrera wish to thank the IPN and Project “Cátedras Patrimoniales CONACYT”; reference number 2014.