Available food options at local shops in relation to food insecurity among older adults in Sharpeville, South Africa

Abstract

Due to limited resources and complex food access systems in urban areas, especially older adults are more vulnerable to poor dietary intake and food insecurity in low-income areas in South Africa. This study assessed the prevalence of food insecurity among the older adults and explored the availability of healthy foods in local shops. It was a crosssectional study conducted in an eldercare centre in Sharpeville, South Africa with an estimated representative sample of 88 participants. Validated tools were used to measure the socioeconomic , dietary diversity intake (24-hour dietary recall), household food security and access from the participants. Listing of available foods was carried out on street vendors (n=13) and spaza shops (local community shops) (n=17) within a four kilometre radius of the centre through on-site visit. A binary logistic regression was used to examine the determinants of food insecurity among older adults. More than half (54.5%) of the older adults reported severe household food insecurity. In this study, 34.1% of the older adults consumed foods from <5 food groups in a day out of the 10 food groups. A large number of respondents did not consume any nuts or seeds (n=64, 72.7%), eggs (n=75, 85.2%), dark green leafy vegetables (n=64, 72.7%) or vitamin Arich fruits and vegetables (n=47, 53.4%). On the other hand, in terms of food availability, fruits and vegetables were more common in street vendors whereas, fish, meat, and high calorie or salt containing snack were more available in spaza shops. All spaza shops sold high calorie or salt containing snack products (such as soda drinks, chips). Households with under-five children were 2.42 times food insecure than the households without any under-five children (p < 0.05), and the participants who experienced money shortage always or often to buy food and clothes were more food insecure (p < 0.05). Nutrition education along with ensuring availability and easy access to healthy foods in the market are necessary to ensure sustainable food security of older adults.

Food Security, Dietary Intake, and Foodways of Urban Low-Income Older South African Women: An Exploratory Study

“…The high rate of divorce, unemployment, HIV/AIDS-related death, out-of-marriage child-bearing, and teenage pregnancy in South Africa often result in the grandmothers stepping in to play an additional role as caregivers to their grandchildren in addition to supporting their adult children [ 50 ]. Although we did not show any differences between the food-secure and -insecure groups, earlier studies in South Africa have shown that being a recipient of a pension, financially supporting household members, especially children, and household size (number of people in the household), were all positively associated with food insecurity status of the grandmothers [ 10 , 32 ]. The current study shows that food-insecure women were from a higher housing density and used coping strategies (borrowing money more frequently, and eating less so that others, especially children in the household had enough food to eat) when compared to the food secure women.…”

“…In contrast to other studies in low-income communities in Africa in which food-insecure households were more likely to rely on informal food outlets, probably because food could be purchased on credit [ 13 , 43 ], all participants in the current study shopped in supermarkets due to their affordability [ 10 ]. Most women in the current study had access to a refrigerator in their homes (98.2%), which enabled them to preserve perishable products and this may explain the discrepancy in results between studies.…”

“…Neighbourhood food environments and household foodways, such as having adequate local food retail outlets, being able to shop independently for food, and being able to prepare food at home, can help to reduce food insecurity risk, especially for older adults [ 10 ]. Accordingly, food-insecure older adults often consume low-cost, highly processed, and energy-dense unhealthy foods, which may contribute to the high prevalence of obesity in these individuals [ 11 , 12 ].…”

“…Early studies in South Africa have shown that food-insecure households lack adequate storage facilities at home for bulk buying, and are more likely to use informal retail food outlets as they offer physical proximity and convenient types of foods [ 13 ]. However, more recently, purchasing food from major retail supermarkets has become increasingly common in South Africa, with higher socioeconomic status and food security associated with greater expenditure on unhealthy food options in contrast to healthier food purchases [ 10 , 14 , 15 ].…”

Food and beverages promoting elderly health: six food-based dietary guidelines to plan good mixed meals for elderly South Africans

“…11 Furthermore, in a recent study, Saha and co-authors showed that 23.8% of participants at the same senior centre in Sharpeville did not consume any milk or milk products in a day before the survey. 143 In addition, a study undertaken in Umlazi among older adults found no milk or milk products appearing in the top 20 most commonly consumed food items. This result was confirmed by 99.5% of the women and 98.0% of the men having inadequate calcium intakes.…”