Open AccessEvaluation of Dietary Intake and Food Insecurity: A Case Study on Selected Households from Lahore,Pakistan
Author(s) -
Umar Bacha,
Saba Yousaf,
Mehak Zafar,
Ahmad Raza,
Muhammad Arbaz Khan,
Shahar Bano,
Zunaira Tauqeer,
Faheem Mustafa,
Muhammad Afzal
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of nutrition and food security
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2476-7425
pISSN - 2476-7417
DOI - 10.18502/jnfs.v6i4.7617
Subject(s) - poverty , environmental health , calorie , food insecurity , food group , population , food intake , per capita , medicine , food security , geography , agriculture , economics , economic growth , archaeology , endocrinology
Background: Food insecurity consistently challenges middle-income countries, including Pakistan. The aim of this study was to evaluate the dietary food intake of the households in the selected location through a semi-structured questionnaire.
Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out among 500 households comprised 2094 participants to investigate dietary intake and status of food insecurity. Furthermore, socio-demographic and weekly dietary food intake was collected through a semi-structured questionnaire in 2019. Those households who assent to participate were included in the study.
Results: Mean household size was 5.80±2.05 comprised 49.27% male and 50.61% female. Six food types were commonly consumed in the study population. Among these foods (g/capita/day) starch remained at the top 734.43 followed by fruits 256.02 and vegetables 89.77. These data highlighted limited dietary diversity and reduced dietary intake. The energy intake (per capita/day) from the food basket, contribution of the starch was the highest 32.37% versus protein 14.43%, milk 14.08%, vegetables 1.31%, and fruit 7.79% with an overall calories intake 81.08% from all food groups except tea. Finally, of the 500 households, 42.4% people were below the poverty line, 41.8% people at the poverty line, and 15.8% people were above the poverty line.
Conclusion: The results showed that dietary intake of the participants was below the reference intake, demonstrating food insecurity and unbalanced diet.