Association Between the Nutritional Quality of Food Purchases and Household Food at Home Expenditures in Mexico

Abstract

BackgroundPoor-quality diets are a major risk factor for noncommunicable diseases. Few studies in Mexico have tested whether higher expenditures are needed to purchase high-quality food. ObjectiveThe objective of the study was to assess how dietary quality of food purchases was associated with household food at home expenditures. DesignThis study was a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from the National Household Income and Expenditure Survey (EncuestaNacional de Ingresos y Gastos de los Hogares [ENIGH] 2018). Participants/settingThe study included 74 469 households with information on food and beverage purchases in Mexico in 2018. Main outcome measuresQuarterly household food at home expenditures by adult equivalent (AE) for all food groups that were scored with the Global Dietary Quality Score (GDQS) for food purchases expressed in dollars/quarterly/AE. Statistical analyses performedAdjusted generalized linear models were used to evaluate the association between GDQS for food purchases (expressed in tertiles: low, mid, and high) and quarterly food expenditures. The analyses were performed at the national level by place of residence and income quintile. ResultsAt the national level, the difference in food expenditures between the high- and the low-GDQS groups was +$13.85/AE. By place of residence, the difference between the high- and the low-GDQS groups was +$17.31/AE in urban and +$5.12/AE in rural areas. For income quintile 1 (lowest), there was a statistical difference of –$4.79/AE and +$43.25 for quintile 5 (highest). ConclusionsQuality of food purchases can be associated with higher or lower expenditures depending on the specific food purchased. High GDQS is associated with lower expenditures among the lowest-income households as they purchase less expensive options compared with high-income households.