Diet Quality and Dietary Acculturation Strategies in Adult Immigrants Attending a Community Health Center in Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Abstract

Introduction: immigrants experience conditions of vulnerability. Their nutritional status is affected after migration, and they undergo a process of dietary acculturation that is associated with lower adherence to the dietary recommendations of the host country.
Objective: to analyze diet quality and nutritional status according to the adopted dietary acculturation strategy (DAS), and to examine diet quality in relation to attendance at nutrition counseling among adult immigrants attending the Community Health and Social Action Center (CeSAC) No.18 in Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Materials and method: observational, analytical, cross-sectional, and prospective study. Non-probabilistic, purposive sampling. Diet quality was assessed in 100 participants using the Argentine Diet Quality Index (ICDAr) (Mendez I, Fasano M, 2023), which scores from 0 to 100 points. The adopted dietary acculturation strategy was evaluated using the validated Dietary Acculturation Strategies Scale, which classifies individuals into dietary assimilation, separation, integration, or avoidance (Hun N, Ursúa A, 2020). Anthropometric measurements (weight and height) were taken to assess nutritional status.
Results: a total of 89% of participants were overweight or obese according to BMI. More than 75% adopted dietary acculturation strategies of assimilation or integration. The median diet quality score was 63.7 (IQR: 47.9–74.5) points, with no significant differences between participants with or without excess weight. Higher median scores were observed in the group that adopted dietary assimilation, followed by the integration group (65.9 vs. 63.4), although the differences were not statistically significant. Participants who attended nutrition counseling in Argentina had significantly higher ICDAr scores (p=0.029).
Conclusions: a high percentage of immigrants evaluated presented excess body weight. Higher diet quality scores were observed among those who adopted acculturation strategies aligned with the host country and attended nutrition counseling.