Food Insecurity in Urban and Rural Areas in Central Brazil: Transition from Locally Produced Foods to Processed Items

ABSTRACT

Aiming to investigate the effect of diet and food consumption with regard to health, environment, and economy in light of nutrition ecology, we studied the dimensions of nutrition and food security in urban and rural settings in the region of Chapada dos Veadeiros, Central Brazil. We tracked diet and food consumption through carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios in fingernails of these inhabitants together with food intake data as a proxy for their diet patterns. We estimated household food insecurity by using the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale. Nutrition and food insecurity was observed in both urban and rural areas, but was accentuated in rural settings. The diet pattern had high δ¹³C values in fingernails and low δ¹⁵N. Both urban and rural areas have diets with low diversity and relying on low-quality processed food staples at the same time that nutrition and food insecurity is quite high in the region.

KEYWORDS:

• Carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios
• diet pattern
• nutritional ecology
• nutrition and food securities
• nutrition transition