Diets

Diet Diversity Score of urban and peri-urban women, men and children under five were significantly higher than rural women, men and children under five.

The percentage of urban and peri-urban women and men reaching Minimum Dietary Diversity was significantly higher than that of rural women and men, while the percentage of children in urban areas reaching Minimum Dietary Diversity was significantly higher than that of periurban and rural children.

For children under five, overall, the average food intake for all food groups was significantly higher in the peri-urban and urban sites, except for vegetables.

The average intake of vegetables and starchy staples was significantly higher in the rural site, while consumption of dairy, as well as meat, poultry and fish, was significantly lower in the rural site than in the peri-urban and urban sites.

For both men and women, the starchy staples group represented the largest portion in diet in all three study sites, following a decreasing gradient from rural to urban, via peri-urban site.

Food flows

Study participants in 3 sites acquired food items from various sources: own production, purchase, gift, and other sources. In general, rural people grew more of their own food, especially starchy staples, while the purchase category was the most popular food source in the urban district. Interestingly, households in the peri-urban site purchased more than 60% of their food. They self-produced some typical Vietnamese food groups, such as starchy staples.

Environmental footprint

The average dietary greenhouse gas emission per day in the rural site was lower than the values in the peri-urban and urban sites. Beef, pork, and starchy staples were the largest contributors to the carbon footprint of the adult diet, especially in the peri-urban and urban sites. For children under 5, the most two contributors of greenhouse gas emission were dairy and starchy staples.

Nutritional Status

For children under five years of age, the urban-rural gradient was a significant predictor of stunting. Similarly, our result shows a significantly higher proportion of underweight among rural children compared to those in urban or peri-urban areas. Wasting was 3.5 times more prevalent in children in the rural site than that in urban areas. In contrast, the proportions of overweight and obesity in children in urban and peri-urban areas were higher than that in the rural area.

The proportion of underweight in adults was about two times higher in rural or peri-urban areas than in urban areas. In contrast, the prevalence of adult overweight was higher in the urban site than in peri-urban or rural sites.

Consumer behavior

Food consumption in the past 7 days

The five food groups that were most commonly consumed by the households in the past 7 days across the three sites were starchy staples; meat, poultry and fish; condiments and seasonings; vitamin A – rich dark green leafy vegetables; and other vegetables. Households in rural areas consistently had a lower consumption across different food groups than those in urban and peri-urban areas. Roughly 20% fewer rural households consumed pulses and dairy products than households in urban and peri-urban areas. To a lesser degree (10 to 15% of difference), this was also the case for the consumption of eggs, oils and fats.

Consumers’ most important factors for food choice

Food safety and healthiness were the most important factors for consumers’ food choice, and they were equally important for all households regardless of locations.

Food outlets where households buy most of the food during a week

Consumers in urban areas often went to a wider variety of retail outlets to make their food purchases, while rural consumers relied more on traditional markets, hence not much outlet diversity. Yet, our results showed that across all the areas, traditional food outlets like street markets were the most common points of food purchase.

Nutrition knowledge and food label usage

Nutrition knowledge was limited in all areas, yet participants in rural areas had a significantly lower score than the urban and peri-urban areas. Urban consumers usually preferred branded/packaged products, and shopped more in modern outlets, used food labels more than their peri-urban and rural counterparts. Paradoxically, out of those food label users, only a small percentage of them understood the information on the labels.

Food safety concerns

Consumers in rural areas were more concerned about food safety than those in urban and peri-urban areas. Regardless of region, most consumers were concerned about food safety sold at traditional markets (formal and informal), while these markets remained the typical food outlets for all consumers.

Food away from home

The number of urban and peri-urban household members eating away from home was roughly five times higher than rural household members. There was no significant difference between urban and peri-urban households.

Food environment

Our picture of food environment more closely resembled a typical emerging economy with specific features such as non-market food sources (e.g., own production and food transfers) in peri-urban and rural areas, and the dominance of the informal retail sector across all three areas. The urban site enjoyed the highest availability and variety of food destinations.

In sum, these results are important for building food systems that can be integrated into policies and programs to improve nutritional outcomes through improved diets, food environment and consumer behaviors.

https://cgspace.cgiar.org/handle/10568/113122