Food: Gateway 1 (Indicators, Causes and Consequences of Variance in Food Consumption Flashcards
List the indicators of food consumption
- Food consumption per capita
- Daily calorie intake per capita
- Percentage of starchy food staples
What is food consumption per capita and how is it measured?
- Average amount of food each consumes each year
- Measured in kg/capita/year
What is daily calorie intake per capita and how is it measured?
- Energy obtained from food consumed by each daily
- Measured in kilocalories
What is percentage of starchy foods consumed and how is it measured?
- The amount of starch taken as a staple
- Meausured in percentage of all calorie intake
What are the broad categories of the causes for variance in food consumption patterns?
- Economic
- Socio-cultural factors
- Political factors
What are the economic factors for the causes of variance in food consumption patterns?
- Disposable income
- Pricing
What are the socio-cultural factors for the causes of variance in food consumption patterns?
- Food preferences
- Population growth
- Religious belief
What are the political factors for the causes of variance in food consumption patterns?
- Stablility in food supply
- Food safety
How does disposable income affect variance in food consumption patterns? What kind of factor is it? Give an example.
Economic
- Disposable income = amount of income left after taxes
- Higher DI = more purchasing power for larger amount and variety of food
- Usually more meat
Eg: Taiwan (1959-1991)
- High economic growth, became DC
- Rice consumption halved, meat quadrupled, fruit climbed 5 times, fish doubled
How does pricing affect variance in food consumption patterns? What kind of factor is it? Give an example.
Economic
- LDCs more affected by pricing than DCs because LDCs have less disposable income
Eg: Food price rising dramatically worldwide (2006-2008)
- Global food crisis
- Brought by economic, political instability, social unrest
- Prices of staples rose more than the rest
- LDCs: many on the brink of chronic hunger, led to riots and protests
- DCs: turned to cheaper options for food
- Speculation on food shares caused inflated demand on food, prices skyrocketed
How does food preferences affect variance in food consumption patterns? What kind of factor is it? Give an example.
Socio-cultural
- Affected by health, morals, income and environment
Eg: Fast food vs organic food
- Fast food cheaper and convienient
- Organic food healthier, pricier, growing consumption in DCs due to rising health concerns
How do religious beliefs affect variance in food consumption patterns? What kind of factor is it? Give an example.
Socio-cultural
- Affects choice of food and food preparation
Eg:
Islam- halal
Buddhism and Hinduism- largely vegetarian
Judaism- kosher foods
How does population growth affect variance in food consumption patterns? What kind of factor is it?
Socio-cultural
- Pop. growth is higher in LDCs than DCs
- Greater demand for food in LDCs
How does stability of food supply affect variance in food consumption patterns? What kind of factor is it? Give 2 examples.
Political
- Influenced by safety, nutritional level, availability, cost of food to the population
- Need the government to take action to ensure stability
- Actions include: increasing food production (tech, more land used for farming etc.), and increasing food import (easier in DCs as they have income to manage fluctuations in prices
Eg: Jamaica, 2004 hurricane disaster
- Unable to import food due to costs
Eg2: Zimbabwe, 2008 drought
- Ruined corn crops for rural and neglected areas
How does food safety affect variance in food consumption patterns? What kind of factor is it? Give 2 examples.
Political
-System that provides guidelines and ensures proper handling, preparation and storage of food to prevent food-bourne diseases and removing food from shelves after sell-by dates
Eg: Mad Cow Disease
- Government had to cull cows and advise against consumption of beef
Eg2: Japan, Tohoku, 2011
- Nuclear reactor explosion contamintated farmland and water
- Seafood imports from Japan to Singapore restricted
List the categories where there are consequences of variations in food consumption patterns?
HEPS
- Health impacts
- Economic impacts
- Political impacts
- Social impacts
What are the negative consequences of variations in food patterns on health?
- Malnutrition
- Ill-health
- Starvation
- Obesity
What are the negative consequences of variations in food patterns on economies?
- Lower productivity
- Higher public health expenditures
- Long term debt
What are the negative consequences of variations in food patterns on political issues?
- Social unrest
What are the negative consequences of variations in food patterns on society?
- Scavenging
- Food wastage
- Dieting
Describe malnutrition as a consequence of variations in food consumption patterns and give an example.
- Not enough nutrients to maintain healthy tissues and organs
- Affects LDCs more than DCs
Eg: Congo- 75% malnourished
Eg2: 5 million children die each year from malnutrition worldwide
Describe ill-health as a consequence of variations in food consumption patterns and give an example.
- Due to inadequate food consumption
Eg: Vitamin A; visual impairment, diarrhea and measles (body unable to fight diseases); more so in LDCs
Eg2: Vitamin D and calcium; osteoporosis, more fragile bones; common in both DCs and LDCs
Describe starvation as a consequence of variations in food consumption patterns and give an example.
- Extreme hunger from severe lack of food (extreme malnutrition)
- More so in LDCs (poorer, unstable political situations)
Eg: Mali, 2012
- 5 million threatened with starvation due to poor harvest and civil rebellion
Describe lower productivity due to malnutrition as a consequence of variations in food consumption patterns and give an example.
- Imbalanced nutrients; fall sick regularly, less goods produced
- Children fall sick regularly; loss of school days, educational opportunities; less able to seek employment
Eg: LDCs
- Low productivity
- Poor health
- Farmers less innovative, less experimental, unable to implement improvements
Describe higher public health expenditures as a consequence of variations in food consumption patterns and give an example.
- More people fall sick–> greater demand for health services–> increase cost of providing healthcare
Eg: LDCs
- Increased to healthcare–> less for development of other areas (education, housing, transportation etc)
- Slows development
Describe long-term debt as a consequence of variations in food consumption patterns and give an example.
- Food aid and financial aid given to help people and countries cope
Eg: USA
- Contributes 50% of global aid
- Food aid has to be purchased before export
- Prices are 34% more expensive than local prices
- LDCs incur losses up to USD$7bn–> leads to national debt
Describe social unrest as a consequence of variations in food consumption patterns and give an example.
- Situations of inadequate food supply bring about political instability
Eg: Mozambique, 2010
- Food prices rose by 30% due to drought in Russia
- Peaceful marches turned to violent demonstrations, wounding and killing
Describe scavenging as a consequence of variations in food consumption patterns and give an example.
- Searching through what had been thrown away in order to consume whatever is fouond to prevent starvation
- Carries health risk as food carries high bacteria or chemicals
- Place scavengers in dangerous situations
- Perceived as a nuisance to public
Eg: Philippines, Smokey Mountain
- Set up makeshift homes next to dump to have easy and quick access to waste; make a living through picking through rubbish
Describe obesity as a consequence of variations in food consumption patterns and give an example.
- Leads to health problems such as high blood pressure, coronary heart diseases diabetes, cancer
- More so in DCs than LDCs
Eg: USA - 31% by 2000
- Rising incomes of LDCs making it more common there too
Eg2: Mexico, South Africa
Describe lower productivity due to obesity as a consequence of variations in food consumption patterns and give an example.
- Imbalanced nutrients; fall sick regularly, less goods produced
- Children fall sick regularly; loss of school days, educational opportunities; less able to seek employment
Eg: USA
- High BMI more likely to fall sick or be injured at work–> higher compensation claims paid–> cost company more in productivity and insurance costs
Describe dieting as a consequence of variations in food consumption patterns and give an example.
- Needs to be carried out healthily
- Inappropriate methods may lead to depression or other illnesses
Benefits
- Healthier
- Employment oppotunities (jobs in weight loss industry
- Economic value (USD$20bn in USA)
Describe higher public health expenditures due to obesity as a consequence of variations in food consumption patterns.
- Higher treatment for obesity related illnesses–> more funds channeled to healthcare system–> less available for economic development
Describe food wastage as a consequence of variations in food consumption patterns and give an example.
- Societies with excess food less careful in handling food
- Large amounts are wasted
Eg: DCs vs LDCs
- DCs: 115kg/capita
- LDCs: 11kg/capita
- Esp so in DCs
- More waste generated–> strain on landfills–> resources used for food production wasted
