Table 3.

Food-related beliefs and food consumption in the past day by HIV status

Food belief or practice	HIV-infected (n=56)	HIV-affected (n=120)	HIV-unaffected (n=146)	p value for HIV-infected vs HIV-affected	p value for HIV-infected vs all others	p value for HIV-affected vs HIV-unaffected
Proportion who believed that a person with HIV infection should eat special foods	54 (96.4)	116 (96.7)	125 (85.6)	0.823	0.357	0.007*
Types of special foods for HIV/AIDS identified
Any staple grain†	51 (91.1)	99 (82.5)	117 (80.1)	0.136	0.075	0.624
Any plant-based protein§	24 (42.9)	57 (47.5)	54 (37.0)	0.565	0.876	0.084
Any animal-protein‡	29 (51.8)	78 (65.0)	90 (61.6)	0.094	0.112	0.572
Any vegetable	33 (58.9)	44 (36.7)	44 (30.1)	0.006*	<0.001*	0.260
Any fruit	21 (37.5)	16 (13.3)	21 (14.4)	<0.001*	<0.001*	0.805
Number of special foods for HIV/AIDS identified
Mean (standard deviation)	6.5 (2.0$)	5.2 (1.8$)	5.3 (2.0$)	0.001*	<0.001*	0.589
Types of food eaten in the past 24 hours
Any staple grain	55 (98.2)	120 (100)	143 (97.9)	0.142	0.686	0.114
Any plant-based protein	31 (55.4)	72 (60.0)	85 (58.2)	0.560	0.613	0.769
Any animal-protein	20 (35.7)	39 (32.5)	54 (37.0)	0.674	0.915	0.445
Any vegetable	22 (39.3)	26 (21.7)	29 (19.9)	0.015*	0.003*	0.718
Any fruit	14 (25.0)	11 (9.2)	25 (17.1)	0.005*	0.031*	0.059
Number of different foods eaten in the past 24 hours
Mean (standard deviation)	5.2 (1.8$)	4.3 (1.4$)	4.5 (1.2$)	0.001*	0.002*	0.379

*p<0.05;

†Such as sweet potato, cassava, maize, millet, mtoke/banana, rice, bread, yams, sorghum, or potatoes;

§Such as beans, peanuts, cowpeas, or soy-products;

‡Such as fish, meat, chicken, or eggs;

$Standard deviation;

AIDS=Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome;

HIV=Human immunodeficiency virus;

Figures in parentheses indicate column percentages unless otherwise indicated