Dietary diversity and food security in South Africa: an application using NIDS Wave 1

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorLeibbrandt, Murrayen_ZA
dc.contributor.advisorArdington, Callyen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorThornton, Amy Juliaen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2016-07-22T13:17:57Z
dc.date.available2016-07-22T13:17:57Z
dc.date.issued2016en_ZA
dc.description.abstractSouth Africa is food secure at the national level; however widespread food insecurity persists at the household level. To understand the dynamics of micro-level food insecurity this dissertation investigates how two different aspects of 'food access' - diet quality and diet quantity - affect two outcomes of 'food utilisation' - hunger and nutrition. Diet quantity is captured by food expenditure in Wave 1 of the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS). To capture diet quality I use dietary diversity, which is not directly available in NIDS. I build and test a food group dietary diversity score and a food variety dietary diversity score using NIDS Wave 1. Both dietary diversity indicators are found to usefully summarise information about food security in South Africa by using methods found in the dietary diversity literature. The dissertation then turns to testing whether the theoretical differences between diet quality and quantity play out empirically in the case of nutrition (adult BMI) and hunger (self-reported household hunger). The results reveal that food variety and food quantity are complementary in explaining the chance of household hunger, with food quantity having a slightly more important effect. The pathways to BMI differ by gender. Dietary diversity and food expenditure are substitutes in the case of male BMI; however, food variety and food expenditure are complementary to explaining female BMI when food expenditure enters into the model as a quadratic. Overall, food variety proved to be a stronger and more significant correlate of both outcomes than the food group dietary diversity score.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationThornton, A. J. (2016). <i>Dietary diversity and food security in South Africa: an application using NIDS Wave 1</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Commerce ,School of Economics. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20617en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationThornton, Amy Julia. <i>"Dietary diversity and food security in South Africa: an application using NIDS Wave 1."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Commerce ,School of Economics, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20617en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationThornton, A. 2016. Dietary diversity and food security in South Africa: an application using NIDS Wave 1. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Thornton, Amy Julia AB - South Africa is food secure at the national level; however widespread food insecurity persists at the household level. To understand the dynamics of micro-level food insecurity this dissertation investigates how two different aspects of 'food access' - diet quality and diet quantity - affect two outcomes of 'food utilisation' - hunger and nutrition. Diet quantity is captured by food expenditure in Wave 1 of the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS). To capture diet quality I use dietary diversity, which is not directly available in NIDS. I build and test a food group dietary diversity score and a food variety dietary diversity score using NIDS Wave 1. Both dietary diversity indicators are found to usefully summarise information about food security in South Africa by using methods found in the dietary diversity literature. The dissertation then turns to testing whether the theoretical differences between diet quality and quantity play out empirically in the case of nutrition (adult BMI) and hunger (self-reported household hunger). The results reveal that food variety and food quantity are complementary in explaining the chance of household hunger, with food quantity having a slightly more important effect. The pathways to BMI differ by gender. Dietary diversity and food expenditure are substitutes in the case of male BMI; however, food variety and food expenditure are complementary to explaining female BMI when food expenditure enters into the model as a quadratic. Overall, food variety proved to be a stronger and more significant correlate of both outcomes than the food group dietary diversity score. DA - 2016 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2016 T1 - Dietary diversity and food security in South Africa: an application using NIDS Wave 1 TI - Dietary diversity and food security in South Africa: an application using NIDS Wave 1 UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20617 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/20617
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationThornton AJ. Dietary diversity and food security in South Africa: an application using NIDS Wave 1. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Commerce ,School of Economics, 2016 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20617en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentSchool of Economicsen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Commerceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherPoverty and Inequality Researchen_ZA
dc.subject.otherFood Securityen_ZA
dc.titleDietary diversity and food security in South Africa: an application using NIDS Wave 1en_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMSocScen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
thesis_hum_2016_thornton_amy_julia.pdf
Size:
1.28 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Collections
Masters