Affordability of Healthy and Water-Saving Dietary Patterns in The Gambia
Author Information
Author(s): Felix Jyoti, Pauline FD Scheelbeek, Genevieve Hadida, Indira Bose, Bakary Jallow, Kris A Murray, Andrew M Prentice, Rosemary Green, Zakari Ali
Primary Institution: London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Hypothesis
What dietary modifications can improve nutritional status and reduce the agricultural water footprint in The Gambia?
Conclusion
Dietary modifications could improve the nutritional quality of Gambian diets while reducing agricultural water use, but these changes are likely unaffordable for a large portion of the population.
Supporting Evidence
- Current diets provide adequate energy but only 14% of households consume enough fruits and vegetables.
- Consumption of added sugars exceeds recommendations.
- Healthy diets would require 48%–63% of average household expenditure, which is unaffordable for almost half the population.
Takeaway
Eating healthier foods can help people in The Gambia, but they might not be able to afford them.
Methodology
The study analyzed food consumption data from the Gambia Integrated Household Survey and used linear programming to optimize dietary patterns.
Potential Biases
Potential overestimation of unaffordability due to reliance on market prices without considering own production.
Limitations
The optimized diets are hypothetical and do not account for blue water use, which may bias results.
Participant Demographics
The sample included 12,445 households with varying socio-economic characteristics.
Statistical Information
P-Value
p<0.0001
Statistical Significance
p<0.0001
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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