Drimie Scott, Faber Mieke, Vearey Jo, Nunez Lorena
Human Nutrition, Interdisciplinary Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Francie van Zijl Avenue, Tygerberg 7505, South Africa.
BMC Public Health. 2013 Oct 2;13:911. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-911.
This paper considers the question of dietary diversity as a proxy for nutrition insecurity in communities living in the inner city and the urban informal periphery in Johannesburg. It argues that the issue of nutrition insecurity demands urgent and immediate attention by policy makers.
A cross-sectional survey was undertaken for households from urban informal (n = 195) and urban formal (n = 292) areas in Johannesburg, South Africa. Foods consumed by the respondents the previous day were used to calculate a Dietary Diversity Score; a score < 4 was considered low.
Statistical comparisons of means between groups revealed that respondents from informal settlements consumed mostly cereals and meat/poultry/fish, while respondents in formal settlements consumed a more varied diet. Significantly more respondents living in informal settlements consumed a diet of low diversity (68.1%) versus those in formal settlements (15.4%). When grouped in quintiles, two-thirds of respondents from informal settlements fell in the lowest two, versus 15.4% living in formal settlements. Households who experienced periods of food shortages during the previous 12 months had a lower mean DDS than those from food secure households (4.00 ± 1.6 versus 4.36 ± 1.7; p = 0.026).
Respondents in the informal settlements were more nutritionally vulnerable. Achieving nutrition security requires policies, strategies and plans to include specific nutrition considerations.
本文探讨了饮食多样性问题，以此作为约翰内斯堡内城和城市非正式边缘地区社区营养不安全状况的一个指标。文中指出，营养不安全问题亟需政策制定者予以紧急关注。
对南非约翰内斯堡城市非正式地区（n = 195）和城市正式地区（n = 292）的家庭进行了横断面调查。用受访者前一天所食用的食物来计算饮食多样性得分；得分<4被视为低水平。
两组之间的均值统计比较显示，来自非正式住区的受访者主要食用谷物和肉类/家禽/鱼类，而正式住区的受访者饮食更为多样。居住在非正式住区的受访者中，饮食多样性低的比例（68.1%）显著高于正式住区的受访者（15.4%）。按五分位数分组时，来自非正式住区的受访者中有三分之二处于最低的两个分组，而居住在正式住区的这一比例为15.4%。在过去12个月中经历过食物短缺时期的家庭，其平均饮食多样性得分低于粮食安全家庭（4.00±1.6对4.36±1.7；p = 0.026）。
非正式住区的受访者在营养方面更脆弱。实现营养安全需要政策、战略和计划纳入具体的营养考量。
