Household Food Budget Research Articles

Family food work: lessons learned from urban Aboriginal women about nutrition promotion

This article reports on ethnographic study of urban Aboriginal family food and implications for nutrition promotion. Data were collected over 2 years through in-depth interviews and participant observation in groups conducted through Indigenous organisations in a suburb of Brisbane. Issues when organising family food include affordability, keeping family members satisfied and being able to share food, a lack of cooking ideas, the accessibility of nutrition information, additional work involved in ensuring healthy eating, and a desire for convenience. Many different health professionals provide nutrition advice, often directing it towards individuals and not providing adequate guidance to facilitate implementation. The easiest advice to implement worked from existing household food practices, skills and budget. Cooking workshops helped to provide opportunities to experiment with recommended foods so that women could confidently introduce them at home. Aboriginal women are concerned about healthy eating for their families. Disadvantage can limit dietary change and the complexity of family food work is often underestimated in nutrition promotion. Household, rather than individual, framing of nutrition promotion can lead to more sustainable healthy eating changes.

The Role of Expanded Coverage of the National Vitamin A Program in Preventing Morbidity and Mortality among Preschool Children in India1–3

Higher food prices increase the risk of vitamin A deficiency among preschool children in poor families, because a larger part of the household food budget is spent on grain foods and less on vitamin A-rich foods. Vitamin A supplementation is an important source of vitamin A for children. Our objective was to characterize coverage of the India national vitamin A program for preschool children and identify risk factors for not receiving vitamin A. Anthropometric and demographic data were examined in 23,008 children aged 12–59 mo in the India National Family Health Survey, 2005–2006. Within the last 6 mo, 20.2% of children received vitamin A supplementation. The prevalence of stunting, severe stunting, underweight, and severe underweight was higher among children who did not receive vitamin A compared with those who received vitamin A (P < 0.0001). In families with a child who did and did not receive vitamin A, respectively, the proportion with a history of under-5 child mortality was 8.4 vs. 11.4% (P < 0.0001). By state, vitamin A program coverage was inversely proportional to the under-5 child mortality rate (r = −0.51; P = 0.004). Maternal education of ≥10 y [odds ratio (OR) 2.22; 95% CI 1.69–2.91], 7–9 y (OR 1.99; 95% CI 1.57–2.53), or 1–6 y (OR 1.65; 95% CI 1.28–2.13) compared with no education was an important factor related to receipt of vitamin A. Poor coverage of the vitamin A supplementation program in India has serious implications in the face of rising food prices. Expanded coverage of the vitamin A program in India will help protect children from morbidity, mortality, and blindness.

Does modifying the household food budget predict changes in the healthfulness of purchasing choices among low- and high-income women?

Food cost has a strong influence on food purchases and given that persons of low income often have more limited budgets, healthier foods may be overlooked in favour of more energy-dense lower-cost options. The aim of this study was to investigate whether modifications to the available household food budget led to changes in the healthfulness of food purchasing choices among women of low and high income. A quasi-experimental design was used which included a sample of 74 women (37 low-income women and 37 high-income women) who were selected on the basis of their household income and sent an itemised shopping list in order to calculate their typical weekly household shopping expenditure. The women were also asked to indicate those foods they would add to their list if they were given an additional 25% of their budget to spend on food and those foods they would remove if they were restricted by 25% of their budget. When asked what foods they would add with a larger household food budget, low-income women chose more foods from the ‘healthier’ categories whereas high-income women chose more foods from the less ‘healthier’ categories. However, making the budgets of low- and high-income women more ‘equivalent’ did not eradicate income differences in overall healthfulness of food purchasing choices. This study highlights the importance of cost when making food purchasing choices among low- and high-income groups. Public health strategies aimed at reducing income inequalities in diet might focus on promoting healthy diets that are low cost.

Metodologia de Estudo de Dieta Total no Estado de São Paulo para estimativa de ingestão dietética de elementos tóxicos e essenciais: a elaboração da Cesta de Mercado (Market Basket)

O objetivo do estudo foi elaborar a Cesta de Mercado para a realização de Estudos de Dieta Total (EDT) para avaliação de ingestão dietética de elementos tóxicos e essenciais no Estado de São Paulo. A fonte de dados foi a pesquisa de consumo nacional domiciliar atualizada, Pesquisa de Orçamentos Familiares (POF) 2002-2003, do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE). Para estimar o consumo de alimentos pela população estudada, os dados de aquisição alimentar utilizados foram pertinentes ao Estado de São Paulo. A Cesta de Mercado inicialmente foi formulada com os dados disponíveis das publicações do IBGE, e para detalhamento dos alimentos foram pesquisados os seus Micro dados, resultando numa Cesta de Mercado com 71 alimentos, que corresponde a 72% do peso dos alimentos da população do Estado de São Paulo, segundo a POF. Como abordagem sugerida pelos EDT já realizados em outros países, os alimentos foram agrupados em 30 compostos, que serão posteriormente analisados para determinar o seu conteúdo dos elementos essenciais e tóxicos.

Disponibilidade domiciliar de alimentos no Brasil: distribuição e evolução (1974-2003)

Data from household food budget surveys were examined in order to describe the regional and socio-economic distribution of household food availability in Brazil in 2002-2003 and trends from 1974 to 2003. The study uses data from the "Pesquisa de Orçamento Familiar 2002-2003" budget survey conducted by the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística) from July 2002 to June 2003, including a national sample of 48,470 households. In each household, during seven consecutive days, all monetary and non-monetary expenses with food and beverages for family consumption were registered. Crude weights of purchased foods were transformed into calories and nutrients with the use of food composition tables. Adequate protein content and a high proportion of animal protein were found in all regions and income strata. These were the most important positive aspects identified in the household food availability in Brazil. On the other hand, all regions and socio-economic strata showed excess calories from sugar and little availability of fruits and vegetables. An excessive proportion of calories came from total and saturated fat in the more economically developed regions and in the urban milieu, as well as among higher-income families. Time-trends in metropolitan areas indicated a decline in the consumption of basic, traditional foods, such as rice and beans; notable increases (up to 400%) in the consumption of processed food items, such as cookies and soft drinks; maintenance of the excessive consumption of sugar; and a continuous increase in total fat and saturated fat content in the diet. Patterns and trends regarding household food availability in Brazil are consistent with the increasing participation of chronic non-communicable diseases in morbidity and mortality and with the continuous increase in the prevalence of obesity.

THE ECONOMIC PAMPHLETEER: The challenge: Making good food accessible

In a previous column, I made the case that enough wholesome, nutritious, and sustainably produced food is affordable for everyone (Ikerd, 2022). However, the fact that good food is afford­able for everyone doesn’t mean good food is accessible to everyone or easy to locate, acquire, and prepare. For many, accessibility is a greater obstacle than affordability, and those who face the greatest challenges of affordability also face the greatest challenges in accessibility. As I pointed out in my previous column, farmers receive an average of only about 14% or US$1,120 of a typical US$8,000 household food budget. The rest, US$6,880, goes to pay the costs of processing, packaging, transportation, advertis­ing, and other marketing costs (Ikerd, 2022, p. 3). Some of these marketing costs are necessary to transform farm commodities into finished food products and thus cannot be avoided. . . .

Meat Consumption and Expenditure Elasticities: A Cross-Section Study in Konya City

In this study, disaggragate meat consumption and expenditure of household in Konya city were investigated with data obtained by questionnaire. Questionnaire data cover 396 households in different socio-economic classes. Study results show that an average food expenses in household total expenditure is 47.2 % and meat expenses in household food budget is 21.7 %. Using average household size and assuming household consumption equals for every month, per capita annual aggregate meat consumption were estimated 25.4 kg. The break-down of household meat consumption indicates that beef and veal share is 33.8%, mutton and lamb share is 17.0%, poultry meat share is 30.3% and suasage share is 9.1% in total meat consumption With household expenditure data and using Engel curves based on 'Stone's Linear Exependiture System', expenditure elasticities were estimated 0.65 , 0.75, and 1.69 respectively for red meat, poultry meat and processed meat products.

Influences of mothers' and fathers' income on children's nutritional status in Guatemala

The relative effects of fathers' and mothers' income on children's nutritional status were examined with a sample of 294 peri-urban Guatemalan children aged 8–47 months. Whether or not incomes tended to be pooled, and the relation of income earning to decision-making about purchases were examined. Four measures of income were constructed for both mother and father: total income, contribution to the household food budget, percentage of her/his income contributed to the household food budget, and a percentage of total family income earned by that person. In the majority of households, women did not report pooling their incomes. Women who earned a higher proportion of the family income had significantly more control over decision-making in all areas except food purchases, which were already primarily women's decisions. Relationships of income measures with children's nutritional status were examined with multiple linear regression analyses controlling for potentially confounding variables. For mothers, the percentage of the total family income they earned was most highly associated with children's nutritional status, suggesting that income control by mothers may have benefits for children. For fathers, the percentage of their income they contributed to the household food budget was most highly associated with children's nutritional status, suggesting that father investment or attitude toward children has important benefits for children.