As prices rocket, the poor ditch healthy food for cheaper starch, fats and sugar

The poor are dropping pricey healthy food such as high quality proteins, calcium and vegetables in favour of cheaper, unhealthy food, in order to make ends meet.

This is a consequence of inflation over the past year which has led to an increase of 5.7% in month-to-month food purchases. Due to an increase in electricity and transport costs over the last year, women from working-class poor families have had to sacrifice healthy food options for meals with poorer nutritional value, according to the Pietermaritzburg Agency for Community Social Action.

The monthly food price barometer, which is compiled by the agency, is an assessment done every three years on a range of foods that women from poorer backgrounds consistently purchase on a month-to-month basis. Some of these items include vegetables, dry beans, sugar and milk.

Based on last year’s purchases “some nutritionally rich foods such as high quality proteins and calcium and vegetables were dropping out of their trolleys altogether or being reduced”, the report said.

Added to this is an increase in starch-based foods, cheaper meats as well as more sugar, salts and fats being purchased.

The January 2017 monthly food price barometer showed that:

» Month-on-month the food basket increased by R113 (5.7%) from R1980 in December 2016 to R2093 in January 2017; and

» Year-on-year the food basket increased by R296 (16.5%) from R1797 in January 2016 to R2093 in January 2017.

In January 2017, the prices of all the foods in the “big food” category increased (25kg maize meal, 10kg rice, 10kg cake flour, 10kg white sugar and four-litre cooking oil).

Women in low-income households identify that these foods must be secured every month for basic energy and enable meals to be cooked. In total, they came to R634 in January 2017. This is an increase of R102 or 19.1% year on year (R532 vs R634). The price of the “big foods” determines dietary diversity on the plate.

“High inflation means that low-income households cut back on foods which are important for balanced nutrition, such as meats, fish and eggs, dairy and vegetables. High increases on the big foods results in compromised nutrition which impact most severely on women because women eat last and make sure nutritionally-rich foods, when they are short, are prioritised for children and men in the house,” said the report.

According to dietician Carly Seager of Intelihealth Dietetics in Sandton, Johannesburg, the escalating prices coupled with poorer food choices only fuels the “double burden of malnutrition”.

A condition common to underdeveloped countries in adult and children where there is an increase in obesity and malnutrition, is that there is a direct correlation between the unhealthy food choices and “chronic diseases of the lifestyle”, Seager says. These diseases include “diabetes mellitus, hypertension, heart disease, strokes and certain cancers in addition to the struggle we are still facing of undernutrition, micro-nutrient deficiencies and weakened immunity and ability to prevent or fight infectious diseases such as tuberculosis.

“The repercussions of the double burden of malnutrition are becoming increasingly evident across all age groups and are extensive, both to the individuals’ health, learning ability, working productivity, earning potential and longevity as well as the expense to the department of health,” Seager told City Press.

	Avantika Seeth Multimedia journalist City Press p: +27 11 713 9001 w: www.citypress.co.za  e: avantika.seeth@citypress.co.za
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