SA shops for price and taste - survey

Cape Town - 090721 - A shopper at a groceries retailer at Vanguard Mall. Photo: Matthew Jordaan

Cape Town - 090721 - A shopper at a groceries retailer at Vanguard Mall. Photo: Matthew Jordaan

Published Aug 7, 2013

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Pretoria - Price is the key factor for most South Africans when shopping for food, according to a study released by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) on Tuesday.

Releasing the SA National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in Pretoria, also known as SANHANES-1, Professor Demetre Labadarios said the option of cheaper grocery items resulted in the population consuming detrimental diets high in fat and sugar content.

“It is clear that women do the grocery shopping. For almost 65 percent of them what is important to them when deciding to buy food is how much the food costs. It makes sense but has consequences.

“The second factor is the taste of the food. The fact that the food they buy is tasteful matters more to women than to men. That also makes sense,” said Labadarios.

According to SANHANES-1, only one in seven shoppers considered the health implications when buying food items.

“Against this background we have the prevalence of anaemia in adults. It is 12.2 percent in males but in females it is almost double at 22 percent.”

Regarding anthropometry - the weight of citizens - Labadarios said the number of underweight people in South Africa had decreased.

The SANHANES-1 survey found that the scale of obesity was tilted towards women.

“There is more obesity among women than men. Remarkably, at the age of 65, 79.8 percent of women are above the cut-off point of 1waist circumference which is 80 centimetres, that is phenomenal,” he said.

Compared to the 2003 SA demographic and health survey, the SANHANES-1 study showed that the percentage of underweight people and people with normal body mass had decreased, while those overweight and obese had increased.

Earlier, Labadarios said more than half of South Africans did not have regular access to enough food. Only 45.6 percent of the population was food secure.

The HSRC defines food security as access to food by all members of a household at all times, to enough food for an active and healthy life.

The food trends status in South Africa is classified under three sections - food secure, at risk of hunger, and experiencing hunger.

“Measuring food security is not easy,” Labadarios said.

“Regarding the food insecure, which is those that experience hunger, one out of four households experience hunger. The Western Cape, Gauteng, and the Northern Cape have low levels of food insecurity in comparison to other provinces.”

Labadarios said that while 26 percent of the population experienced hunger, 28.6 percent were living at the risk of being hungry.

The number of citizens living “at the risk of hunger” had risen from 25 percent in the previous survey in 2008.

According to the 2012 study, the Eastern Cape, followed by Limpopo, had the highest numbers of citizens experiencing food insecurity. Food security was at its highest in the Western Cape.

The SANHANES-1 survey was compiled by a research consortium comprising the HSRC and the Medical Research Council, and was financed by the health department and the United Kingdom's Department For International Development. - Sapa

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