Dietary Diversity During Complementary Feeding and Its Association with Nutritional Status Among Infants and Young Children in Indonesia: A Literature Review

Dietary diversity is an important component of complementary feeding and may influence the nutritional status and growth of infants and young children. This review aimed to synthesize evidence on the association between dietary diversity during complementary feeding and nutritional status, with emphasis on Indonesia and relevant international evidence. This study was conducted as a targeted narrative review. A targeted literature search was conducted using PubMed/MEDLINE and Google Scholar between January and March 2026. Studies were eligible if they included children aged 6–23 months, assessed dietary diversity or minimum dietary diversity, reported nutritional outcomes, and were original research articles published in English between 2004 and 2026. Findings were synthesized narratively because of heterogeneity in study designs, populations, dietary diversity measures, and nutritional outcomes. Sixteen studies met the eligibility criteria, comprising 10 Indonesian and 6 non-Indonesian or multi-country studies. Overall, higher dietary diversity was generally associated with more favorable anthropometric outcomes, particularly linear growth and lower odds of stunting, although associations varied across settings and after adjustment for other factors. In Indonesia, socioeconomic, maternal, cultural, and food-access factors were also associated with dietary diversity. Dietary diversity may be associated with more favorable nutritional and growth outcomes among children aged 6–23 months. Improving dietary diversity in Indonesia may benefit from context-specific approaches addressing caregiver practices, food-system constraints, and community and primary healthcare capacity.