Diets, Nutrition, and Poverty - The Oxford Topic of Food, Politics, and Society - page 334

generally, consumption of snacks, beverages, and precooked meals. Nevertheless, even
more deprived sections of the society are not immune to these evolving dietary patterns.
Demand-Theory Based Explanation of
Shift in Nutrient Intake
One explanation of a downward shift in the calorie Engel curve relies on lower “require-
ments” due to health improvements, less strenuous activity levels, and more seden-
tary lifestyles (Deaton-Dreze 2009). There is an alternative explanation provided by a
standard demand-theory framework, with food prices22 and expenditure (as a proxy
for income) cast in a pivotal role. Demand functions are estimated for each of three
nutrients, namely calories, protein, and fats. We find -consistently robust food price and
expenditure effects. We will discuss the results for rural and urban samples separately.23
Rural India
Calories
Our results confirm significant food price effects on calorie demand—negative for
prices of cereals, and fruits and vegetables, and positive for inferior cereals, milk/milk
products/ghee/butter, Vanaspati oil, sugar, eggs and pulses/nuts-dry fruits/others. The
expenditure/income effect on calorie demand is positive and large.24 Household size and
composition matter too. The larger the number of adult males and females, the greater
is the calorie demand. Controlling for the number of adults, variation in household size
reflects variation in number of children. So it is not surprising that household size has a
significant negative effect on calorie demand.25 Both SC and Others (as a residual caste
group) demand more calories than the omitted group of STs. Education level matters
too. Other things being equal, households in which adult males and females have more
than middle level of schooling demand fewer calories than those with lower educational
attainments. Over and above these effects, it is found that calorie demand was lower in
2004 as compared to 1993. This could be in part the combined effect of epidemiological
improvements, less strenuous activity patterns, and more sedentary life-styles.26
Protein
There are significant food price effects on protein demand too—negative for prices of
cereals, Vanaspati oil, fruits, and vegetables, and positive for those of milk/milk prod-
ucts/ghee/butter, sugar, eggs, and pulses/nuts-dry fruits/others. Expenditure has a sig-
nificant positive effect. Turning to household characteristics, the larger the numbers of
adult males and females, the higher is the protein demand, whereas household size has
a significantly negative effect. In all these cases, however, the effects are negligibly small.