Table 3.

Results from the principal component analysis showing the extracted dietary patterns, their eigenvalues and percentage of explained variance: The 2008 Nigerian Demographic and Health Surveys

	Dietary patterns and the food items loading on each dietary pattern*	Eigenvalues of patterns†	% variance of patterns
Mother	Mixed:	3.71	14.0
	Eggs; pumpkins, carrots, yellow or orange squash; mangoes, papayas or other vitamin A‐based fruits; other fruits; liver, heart or other inside organs of meats; cheese, yogurt, other milk products; chocolates, sweets, candies, pastries or related products
	Traditional:	1.27	11.0
	Potatoes, cassava or other tubers; meats (beef, pork, lamb, chicken); dark green leafy vegetables; other fruits; fish or shellfish
	Staple foods and milk products:	1.22	10.3
	Bread, noodles or other grain foods; dark green leafy vegetables; beans, peas, lentils, nuts; cheese, yogurt or other milk products; oils, fats, butters or other products made from them
	Beverages:	1.08	10.2
	Tinned or fresh milk; tea or coffee
	Total variance explained by all patterns	–	45.5
Child	Mixed:	5.13	15.5
	Bread, noodles or other grain foods; potatoes, cassava or other tubers; meats (beef, pork, lamb, chicken); dark green leafy vegetables; other fruits; fish or shellfish; beans, peas, lentils, nuts; chocolates, sweets, candies, pastries or related products
	Selective:	1.67	9.7
	Pumpkins, carrots, yellow or orange squash; mangoes, papayas or other vitamin A‐based fruits; liver, heart or other inside organs of meats; cheese, yogurt, other milk products
	Beverages and candies:	1.31	9.7
	Tinned or fresh milk; tea or coffee; eggs; chocolates, sweets, candies, pastries or related products
	Gruels, grains and semi‐liquids:	1.10	8.9
	Porridges and gruels; bread, noodles or other grain foods; beans, peas, lentils, nuts; cheese, yogurt, other milk products; solid and semi‐solid foods
	Infant formula and cereals:	1.01	7.2
	Infant formula; baby cereals
	Total variance explained by all patterns	–	51.0

*Varimax (orthogonal) rotation with the Kaiser normalisation was used to construct the dietary patterns, which implies that the dietary patterns are uncorrelated. ^†Eigenvalue >1 was used as the criteria for extracting the dietary patterns.