Muzigaba M, Puoane T
The Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa.
East Afr J Public Health. 2011 Dec;8(4):278-85.
There is an increasing awareness of the role played by the food retail characteristics in determining individuals' healthy food purchasing and consumption behaviors. The perceived costs of healthier food alternatives have been shown to contribute negatively to individual's food choices in developed societies. However, there is still a dearth of knowledge regarding this phenomenon in low to middle income countries particularly in Africa. This study explored health club member's experiences in buying healthier food options and compared their perceived cost of selected healthier and less healthy foods with actual market costs in a South African township.
A cross-sectional study design using quantitative and qualitative research methods. The study was conducted in Khayelitsha, a township in the Western Cape Province in South Africa. Participants were 50 members of a health club, mostly female and above 50 years of age. The study was conducted in three phases. The first phase involved interviews with all 50 health club members. During the second phase ten purposively selected members participated in in-depth interviews based on their unhealthy food-purchasing and consumption patterns identified in the first phase. The third phase involved food price audits from supermarkets as well as convenient stores located in the study setting. Quantitative data were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis, while content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data.
Most of the members were illiterate and unemployed, largely dependent on government grants. Qualitative findings showed that low household incomes, their inability to read and interpret nutritional information and personal food preferences contributed to Health club members' unhealthy food-purchasing behaviour. When objectively measured in local stores, the healthier food options proved to be more expensive than their less healthy equivalents. This was consistent with subjects' perceptions about the relative cost of the same foods in their local stores.
Healthier foods tended to be more expensive than their less healthy options in local shops audited - both in reality and in the perceptions of health club members. Low income was reported to militate against health club members' healthy food-purchasing behaviour.
人们越来越意识到食品零售特征在决定个人健康食品购买和消费行为中所起的作用。在发达社会，更健康食品替代品的感知成本已被证明会对个人的食物选择产生负面影响。然而，在低收入和中等收入国家，尤其是非洲，关于这一现象的知识仍然匮乏。本研究探讨了健身俱乐部会员购买更健康食品的经历，并将他们对选定的更健康和不太健康食品的感知成本与南非一个城镇的实际市场成本进行了比较。
采用定量和定性研究方法的横断面研究设计。该研究在南非西开普省的一个城镇凯伊利沙进行。参与者是一家健身俱乐部的50名会员，大多数为女性，年龄在50岁以上。该研究分三个阶段进行。第一阶段对所有50名健身俱乐部会员进行访谈。在第二阶段，根据第一阶段确定的不健康食品购买和消费模式，有目的地挑选了10名会员参加深入访谈。第三阶段涉及对研究区域内超市和便利店的食品价格审计。定量数据进行描述性统计分析，定性数据采用内容分析法进行分析。
大多数会员是文盲且失业，主要依赖政府补助。定性研究结果表明，家庭收入低、无法阅读和理解营养信息以及个人食物偏好导致健身俱乐部会员出现不健康的食品购买行为。在当地商店进行客观测量时，更健康的食品选项被证明比不太健康的同类食品更贵。这与受试者对当地商店中相同食品相对成本的看法一致。
在所审计的当地商店中，更健康的食品往往比不太健康的食品更贵——无论是在现实中还是在健身俱乐部会员的认知中。据报告，低收入不利于健身俱乐部会员的健康食品购买行为。
