Behavioral thresholds as indicators of perceived dietary adequacy or inadequacy

As an alternative to the often inadequate traditional method of answering this question by comparing food availabilities with food needs, analysis of the economic thresholds at which food is purchased for quality rather than quantity has recently been suggested. The legitimacy of this concept is herein analyzed. After reviewing the controversy regarding quantification of the nutrition problem, the author discusses the rationale for focusing on quantity-quality substitutions as a means to discern behavioral thresholds of dietary adequacy. Next, the basic empirical validity of the threshold concept is established by a preliminary examination of available data from Sri Lanka, Brazil, Peru, and Indonesia. After noting potential limitations to the concept"s utility posed by the lack of sufficiently disaggregated data, the author introduces a starchy staples consumption model as a basis for making reasonable inferences on consumer perceptions of nutritional adequacy or inadequacy. Results of tests of the behavioral model in Indonesia and Peru are then presented. Study results indicate the broad validity of the threshold approach and strongly suggest that the energy requirement figures used in traditional methodologies have exaggerated the extent of the hunger problem.