Seyoum Teffera Mengesha1. 1. Department of Economics, College of Business and Economics, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Food and nutrition security continued to be a significant concern in the global food system. However, this system is not delivering optimal nutrition and health outcomes. Most low- and middle-income countries are burdened by persistent undernutrition and recently growing overweight and diet-related non-communicable diseases. One of the mechanisms for addressing this nutrition paradox is understanding consumers' food choices and preferences. Thus, this study's objective was to assess the patterns and trends of food consumption in a developing country context: the case of Amhara region, Ethiopia, and to identify market-based interventions involving specific foods and groups. METHODS: A household-based cross-sectional study and multistage sampling technique were used to select study participants and collect data. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection, and the study adopted a descriptive research approach and a mix of complementary qualitative and quantitative methods in its analysis. A Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) to describe the respondents' food consumption pattern was used in the study. RESULTS: Following FAO (2010)'s guideline, the HDDS score was calculated based on the intake of 12 food groups using a week recall data. The average HDDS was 8.5 out of 12 food groups. The average HDDS was relatively high, which might be related to the week recall in our data measurement period. CONCLUSION: This report seeks to understand consumers' behavior by investigating several aspects of food choices, including household dietary diversity and food expenditures. The study also provides insights for researchers to further investigate the issue by adding other scientific databases and methods to draw more meaningful and implementable conclusions. LIMITATIONS: Although the sampling procedure was random, it might not be representative to study the patterns and trends of food consumption at a country or broad level due to its small size.
BACKGROUND: Food and nutrition security continued to be a significant concern in the global food system. However, this system is not delivering optimal nutrition and health outcomes. Most low- and middle-income countries are burdened by persistent undernutrition and recently growing overweight and diet-related non-communicable diseases. One of the mechanisms for addressing this nutrition paradox is understanding consumers' food choices and preferences. Thus, this study's objective was to assess the patterns and trends of food consumption in a developing country context: the case of Amhara region, Ethiopia, and to identify market-based interventions involving specific foods and groups. METHODS: A household-based cross-sectional study and multistage sampling technique were used to select study participants and collect data. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection, and the study adopted a descriptive research approach and a mix of complementary qualitative and quantitative methods in its analysis. A Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) to describe the respondents' food consumption pattern was used in the study. RESULTS: Following FAO (2010)'s guideline, the HDDS score was calculated based on the intake of 12 food groups using a week recall data. The average HDDS was 8.5 out of 12 food groups. The average HDDS was relatively high, which might be related to the week recall in our data measurement period. CONCLUSION: This report seeks to understand consumers' behavior by investigating several aspects of food choices, including household dietary diversity and food expenditures. The study also provides insights for researchers to further investigate the issue by adding other scientific databases and methods to draw more meaningful and implementable conclusions. LIMITATIONS: Although the sampling procedure was random, it might not be representative to study the patterns and trends of food consumption at a country or broad level due to its small size.
Authors: Stephen S Lim; Theo Vos; Abraham D Flaxman; Goodarz Danaei; Kenji Shibuya; Heather Adair-Rohani; Markus Amann; H Ross Anderson; Kathryn G Andrews; Martin Aryee; Charles Atkinson; Loraine J Bacchus; Adil N Bahalim; Kalpana Balakrishnan; John Balmes; Suzanne Barker-Collo; Amanda Baxter; Michelle L Bell; Jed D Blore; Fiona Blyth; Carissa Bonner; Guilherme Borges; Rupert Bourne; Michel Boussinesq; Michael Brauer; Peter Brooks; Nigel G Bruce; Bert Brunekreef; Claire Bryan-Hancock; Chiara Bucello; Rachelle Buchbinder; Fiona Bull; Richard T Burnett; Tim E Byers; Bianca Calabria; Jonathan Carapetis; Emily Carnahan; Zoe Chafe; Fiona Charlson; Honglei Chen; Jian Shen Chen; Andrew Tai-Ann Cheng; Jennifer Christine Child; Aaron Cohen; K Ellicott Colson; Benjamin C Cowie; Sarah Darby; Susan Darling; Adrian Davis; Louisa Degenhardt; Frank Dentener; Don C Des Jarlais; Karen Devries; Mukesh Dherani; Eric L Ding; E Ray Dorsey; Tim Driscoll; Karen Edmond; Suad Eltahir Ali; Rebecca E Engell; Patricia J Erwin; Saman Fahimi; Gail Falder; Farshad Farzadfar; Alize Ferrari; Mariel M Finucane; Seth Flaxman; Francis Gerry R Fowkes; Greg Freedman; Michael K Freeman; Emmanuela Gakidou; Santu Ghosh; Edward Giovannucci; Gerhard Gmel; Kathryn Graham; Rebecca Grainger; Bridget Grant; David Gunnell; Hialy R Gutierrez; Wayne Hall; Hans W Hoek; Anthony Hogan; H Dean Hosgood; Damian Hoy; Howard Hu; Bryan J Hubbell; Sally J Hutchings; Sydney E Ibeanusi; Gemma L Jacklyn; Rashmi Jasrasaria; Jost B Jonas; Haidong Kan; John A Kanis; Nicholas Kassebaum; Norito Kawakami; Young-Ho Khang; Shahab Khatibzadeh; Jon-Paul Khoo; Cindy Kok; Francine Laden; Ratilal Lalloo; Qing Lan; Tim Lathlean; Janet L Leasher; James Leigh; Yang Li; John Kent Lin; Steven E Lipshultz; Stephanie London; Rafael Lozano; Yuan Lu; Joelle Mak; Reza Malekzadeh; Leslie Mallinger; Wagner Marcenes; Lyn March; Robin Marks; Randall Martin; Paul McGale; John McGrath; Sumi Mehta; George A Mensah; Tony R Merriman; Renata Micha; Catherine Michaud; Vinod Mishra; Khayriyyah Mohd Hanafiah; Ali A Mokdad; Lidia Morawska; Dariush Mozaffarian; Tasha Murphy; Mohsen Naghavi; Bruce Neal; Paul K Nelson; Joan Miquel Nolla; Rosana Norman; Casey Olives; Saad B Omer; Jessica Orchard; Richard Osborne; Bart Ostro; Andrew Page; Kiran D Pandey; Charles D H Parry; Erin Passmore; Jayadeep Patra; Neil Pearce; Pamela M Pelizzari; Max Petzold; Michael R Phillips; Dan Pope; C Arden Pope; John Powles; Mayuree Rao; Homie Razavi; Eva A Rehfuess; Jürgen T Rehm; Beate Ritz; Frederick P Rivara; Thomas Roberts; Carolyn Robinson; Jose A Rodriguez-Portales; Isabelle Romieu; Robin Room; Lisa C Rosenfeld; Ananya Roy; Lesley Rushton; Joshua A Salomon; Uchechukwu Sampson; Lidia Sanchez-Riera; Ella Sanman; Amir Sapkota; Soraya Seedat; Peilin Shi; Kevin Shield; Rupak Shivakoti; Gitanjali M Singh; David A Sleet; Emma Smith; Kirk R Smith; Nicolas J C Stapelberg; Kyle Steenland; Heidi Stöckl; Lars Jacob Stovner; Kurt Straif; Lahn Straney; George D Thurston; Jimmy H Tran; Rita Van Dingenen; Aaron van Donkelaar; J Lennert Veerman; Lakshmi Vijayakumar; Robert Weintraub; Myrna M Weissman; Richard A White; Harvey Whiteford; Steven T Wiersma; James D Wilkinson; Hywel C Williams; Warwick Williams; Nicholas Wilson; Anthony D Woolf; Paul Yip; Jan M Zielinski; Alan D Lopez; Christopher J L Murray; Majid Ezzati; Mohammad A AlMazroa; Ziad A Memish Journal: Lancet Date: 2012-12-15 Impact factor: 79.321