scholarly journals The estimation of the Marshallian demand functions for the selected foodstuff groups according to the households income quartils

2009 ◽  
Vol 55 (No. 8) ◽  
pp. 406-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Zentková ◽  
E. Hošková

The article deals with the modelling of demand for the food group of milk and milk products and the food group of meat, meat products, eggs and fish using the Marshallian demand functions for the individual income quartils of Slovak households. The criterium for the foodstuff groups selection is their position in the Healthy Eating Pyramid which is one of the recommended optimal food basket forms. We suppose that the significant income differentiation of households will manifest as different consumer behaviour in the food market. The analysis confirms this hypothesis.

2012 ◽  
Vol 52 (No. 9) ◽  
pp. 412-417
Author(s):  
P. Syrovátka

The paper is focused on the derivation of the mathematical relationship among the income-elasticity level of the entire market demand and the income-elasticity values of the demand functions of the consumers’ groups buying on the defined market. The determination of the mathematical term was based on the linearity of the relevant demand functions. Under the linearity assumption, the income elasticity coefficient of the entire market demand equals the weighted sum of the income-demand elasticities of the differentiated consumer groups buying on the given market. The weights in the aggregation formula are defined as the related demand shares, i.e. as the proportions of the groups’ demands to the entire market demand. The derived aggregation equation is quite held if no demand interactions (e.g. the snob or fashion effect) are recorded among differentiated consumers’ groups. The derived formula was examined by using empirical data about the consumer behaviour of Czech households in the market of meat and meat products (Czech Statistical Office). However, the application potential of the achieved term for the income-elasticity aggregations is much broader within the consumer-behaviour analysis. In addition to the subject aggregations of the demand functions, we can also apply the derived formula for the analysis and estimations of the income elasticities within the demand-object aggregations, i.e. the multistage analysis of the income elasticity of consumer demand. Another possibility of the use of the aggregation equation is for the evaluations and estimations of the income elasticity of the region-demand functions in relation to the subregions’ demands or reversely.


Author(s):  
Karthikeyan Kulothungan ◽  
T. Sri Ranganathan ◽  
D. Rock Britto ◽  
S. G. Deepak ◽  
K. Dhinesh ◽  
...  

Background: Appropriate nutrition in early childhood plays an important role in normal growth and development, as well as on the long-term health of individuals. There is increasing recognition that dietary pattern better reflects the overall quality of the diet. The dietary pattern has been shown to be associated with nutrient intakes and linked to chronic diseases including obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome in children. The aim of the study was to assess the dietary preferences for food items (vegetables, fruits, meat, milk products, snacks and starch) among children of age 5-10 years in the rural area of Perambalur district, South India.Methods: Six food categories (vegetables, fruits, meat, milk products, snacks and starch) were included in the questionnaire to study the dietary preferences of the child. Data were entered into a Microsoft Excel worksheet and analysed for frequencies and percentages. Mean score and its standard deviation were calculated for individual food items.Results: The study shows that most of the children prefer milk/milk products with a highest mean score of 3.94 followed by a preference for snacks. Most avoided food were vegetables, followed by meat and meat products. The overall score was found to be low for all the categories of food among children who prefer mobile compared to TV and outdoor group. But this difference was not statistically significant. This difference was close to 0.05 only in vegetable group category.Conclusions: The results will help in planning the nutritional counselling programmes for children. These findings have to be further correlated with the nutritional status of the individual children and deficiencies if any.


Author(s):  
Monika Frýdlová ◽  
Hana Vostrá

This is a treatise of consumer behaviour in the Czech foods market, respectively, organic food market. This concerns comprehensive analysis of consumer behaviour, which places great emphasis on the motivating factors and barriers, which substantially influence the individual consumers when deciding between conventional foods and organic foods and are operationally broken down into a set of empirical indicators. The database comes from a questionnaire survey to ascertain the trends in the development of the consumption of conventional foods and organic foods including the shopping behaviour of the individual consumers. The results of the questionnaire survey were evaluated by analysis of the qualitative features and other sophisticated statistical methods were also used. Based on the results obtained, the influence of the individual factors on the decision-making behaviour of the consumers when purchasing foods. The main factors that influence consumer behaviour were considered to be the income of the consumers, price of the foods, attitudes that influence the purchase of foods.


2007 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inga Villa ◽  
Agneta Yngve ◽  
Eric Poortvliet ◽  
Andrej Grjibovski ◽  
Krystiine Liiv ◽  
...  

AbstractObjectivesTo determine the differences in macronutrient and food group contribution to total food and energy intakes between Estonian and Swedish under-, normal- and overweight schoolchildren, and to estimate the association between diet and body mass index (BMI).DesignCross-sectional comparison between Estonian and Swedish children and adolescents of different BMI groups.SettingTwenty-five schools from one region in Estonia and 42 in two regions of central Sweden.SubjectsIn total 2308 participants (1176 from Estonia and 1132 from Sweden), including 1141 children with a mean age of 9.6 ± 0.5 years and 1167 adolescents with a mean age of 15.5 ± 0.6 years.ResultsOverweight was more prevalent among younger girls in Sweden (17.0 vs. 8.9%) and underweight among girls of both age groups in Estonia (7.9 vs. 3.5% in younger and 10.5 vs. 5.1% in older age group of girls). Compared with that of normal- and underweight peers, the diet of overweight Estonian children contained more energy as fat (36.8 vs. 31.7%) but less as carbohydrates, and they consumed more milk and meat products. Absolute BMI of Estonian participants was associated positively with energy consumption from eggs and negatively with energy consumption from sweets and sugar. Swedish overweight adolescents tended to consume more energy from protein and milk products. Risk of being overweight was positively associated with total energy intake and energy from fish or meat products. In both countries the association of overweight and biological factors (pubertal maturation, parental BMI) was stronger than with diet.ConclusionThe finding that differences in dietary intake between under-, normal- and overweight schoolchildren are country-specific suggests that local dietary habits should be considered in intervention projects addressing overweight.


2005 ◽  
Vol 3 (8) ◽  
pp. 399-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Williams ◽  
Eric Taylor

The evolutionary status of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is central to assessments of whether modern society has created it, either physically or socially; and is potentially useful in understanding its neurobiological basis and treatment. The high prevalence of ADHD (5–10%) and its association with the seven-repeat allele of DRD4, which is positively selected in evolution, raise the possibility that ADHD increases the reproductive fitness of the individual, and/or the group. However, previous suggestions of evolutionary roles for ADHD have not accounted for its confinement to a substantial minority. Because one of the key features of ADHD is its diversity, and many benefits of population diversity are well recognized (as in immunity), we study the impact of groups' behavioural diversity on their fitness. Diversity occurs along many dimensions, and for simplicity we choose unpredictability (or variability), excess of which is a well-established characteristic of ADHD. Simulations of the Changing Food group task show that unpredictable behaviour by a minority optimizes results for the group. Characteristics of such group exploration tasks are risk-taking, in which costs are borne mainly by the individual; and information-sharing, in which benefits accrue to the entire group. Hence, this work is closely linked to previous studies of evolved altruism. We conclude that even individually impairing combinations of genes, such as ADHD, can carry specific benefits for society, which can be selected for at that level, rather than being merely genetic coincidences with effects confined to the individual. The social benefits conferred by diversity occur both inside and outside the ‘normal’ range, and these may be distinct. This view has the additional merit of offering explanations for the prevalence, sex and age distribution, severity distribution and heterogeneity of ADHD.


2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Damilola Olajide ◽  
Anne Ludbrook

Understanding the link between diet, risk of obesity and the underlying socioeconomic circumstances of the individual is useful for health promotion and improvement interventions. In this study, we examined the socioeconomic factors that jointly affect food consumption choices and risk of obesity. We analyse the National Dietary and Nutrition Survey (2000/01) of adults aged 19-64 years living in private households in the UK, using a health production framework. We used information on the complete food history on individuals in the previous week to create eight common food groups. We estimated a system of linear risk of obesity (as measured by Body Mass Index) and eight diet equations with error terms that are correlated across equations for a given individual, but are uncorrelated across individuals, using the seemingly unrelated regression method. Our findings indicate that the socioeconomic factors (e.g. income and education) associated with sources of healthy eating differ. While increasing household purchasing power may be more effective for increasing consumption of healthier foods such as fruit and vegetables, more knowledge and information about healthy eating may be more effective for cutting down on consumption of less healthy foods (e.g. preserves and savoury foods). An understanding of these different healthy eating contexts is essential for the development of effective targeted food based policies aimed at reducing the risk of obesity. Link to Appendix


2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (No. 3) ◽  
pp. 268-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Joudalová ◽  
Z. Réblová

The intake of extractable antioxidants in theCzech Republicwas studied using the FRAP (ferric reducing antioxidant potential) method applied to water-methanol extracts. The daily intake of these antioxidants was 16.6 mmol generated Fe(II) for men and 15.0 mmol for women (i.e. 8300 and 7500 μmol Trolox equivalents). The largest sources of antioxidants were coffee (43.1% of overall intake for men and 54.6% for women) and beer (15% for men vs. 1.8% for women). Other significant sources of antioxidants were tea, vegetables and vegetable products (including potatoes and potato products), fruit and fruit products, cereal products, wine, sugars and sweets, spices and meat and meat products. Small amounts of antioxidants (less than 1.0% of overall intake) were supplied by nuts and seeds, milk and milk products and fats, while pulses, eggs and egg products, convenience foods and cheese were insignificant sources of antioxidants. Within the fruit and fruit products category, apples were the most significant source of extractable antioxidants, and in the vegetable and vegetable products category, peppers were the largest source of antioxidants.  


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