Optimal Nutrition

Ethiopia's pooled prevalence of 35.23% sits in the lower-middle range internationally, lower than higher-income settings but higher than some other low-income countries. Institution-based studies showed a higher pooled prevalence of optimal dietary practices (41.32%) than community-based studies, likely reflecting selection effects. The overall certainty of evidence for the prevalence estimate was rated very low by GRADE, primarily due to heterogeneity and publication bias. Nutrition decisions should rely on scientific evidence rather than unsupported opinions. Individual study estimates of optimal dietary practices ranged from 14.97% to 78%, reflecting wide within-country variation. Heterogeneity among included studies was very high (I²=98.5%) and significant publication bias was detected (Egger's test p=0.001). After trim-and-fill analysis imputing nine hypothetical unpublished studies, the adjusted prevalence estimate changed only minimally to 35.83%. The approach combines specific food with supplements under a calorie constraint. The goal of the approach is to identify what the body needs to reach an optimal state.