Abstract
Aim
To ascertain that benefiting from a balanced and qualified diet is very important for ensuring human health and achieving the goals of the food security program, the present study was conducted by Tarbiat Modares University (Tehran, Iran) to investigate the food security situation of households in Alborz Province.
Subject and methods
The descriptive-correlational research involved was carried out using a scaling method. The statistical population of the study included all of the households in Alborz Province (N = 719,464), of which 354 were selected by a stratified random sampling method, with proportional assignment. The main research tool was a questionnaire whose validity was reviewed and modified by a panel of agricultural extension and education specialists from Tarbiat Modares and Tehran Universities. To determine the reliability of the research tool, 30 questionnaires were distributed among the statistical population and a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient equal to 0.7 was obtained.
Results
The results showed that there was a significant difference between the Alborz Province households, benefit at the 0.01 level of significance, and that most of the households in Savojbolagh City were completely food secure in contrast to Nazarabad, Karaj, and Taleghan cities.
Conclusion
Due to the low benefit of the households of Nazarabad, Karaj, and Taleghan, it is suggested that the government should solve the problem of physical access to food supplies for these households by creating different markets in the low-income areas of these cities.
Similar content being viewed by others
Availability of data and materials
The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Code availability
Not applicable.
References
Alimoradi Z, Kazemi F, Mirmiran P, Estaki T (2014) Household food security in iran: systematic review of scales, prevalence, influencing factors and outcomes. Adv Nurs Midwife 24:63–76
Aspry KE et al (2018) Medical nutrition education, training, and competencies to advance guideline-based diet counseling by physicians: a science advisory from the American Heart Association. Circulation 137:e821–e841
Baer-Nawrocka A, Sadowski A (2019) Food security and food self-sufficiency around the world: a typology of countries. PLoS One 14:e0213448
Bakhshi M, Samadi M, Baradaran Nasiri M (2008) Maintaining the status of Iran in Southwest Asia on the indicators defining vulnerability and food security. Agric Econ Dev 16:21–50
Bickel G, Nord M, Price C, Hamilton W, Cook J (2000) Guide to measuring household food security. Revised 2000. USDA, Food and Nutrition Service. www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/FSGuide_0.pdf
Fang H, Eggleston K, Hanson K, Wu M (2019) Enhancing financial protection under China’s social health insurance to achieve universal health coverage. bmj 365:l2378
FAOStat (2017) http://www.fao.org/faostat/. Accessed Jan 2018
Kavand H, Heidary K (2007) Evaluation the effect of food subsidy reduction on Iranian household calorie intake: VAR application. AgEcon Search. https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.32659
Kolahdooz F, Najafi F, Sadeghi Ghotbabadi F (2012) Report of a national survey: food security information and mapping system in Iran Tehran: Ministry of Health and Medical Education
Krejcie RV, Morgan DW (1970) Determining sample size for research activities. Educ Psychol Meas 30:607–610
Minaie M, Movahedi A, Motlagh AD, Abdollahi Z, Djazayery A (2019) Association of socioeconomic status and food security with anthropometric indices among 2–5-year-old urban children in eight different cities in Iran. Int J Prev Med 10:173
Mohammadzadeh A, Dorosty A, Eshraghian M (2011) Household food security status and food consumption among high school students in Esfahan. Iran Iranian J Epidemiol 7:38–43
Salem J, Mojaverian M (2017) Study of relationship between food security, urban population and development plans in Iran. Environ Resour Res 5:143–152
Sanders D, Reynolds L (2017) Ending stunting: transforming the health system so children can thrive. South African Child Gauge. Cape Town, Children’s Institute, pp 68–76. http://www.ci.uct.ac.za/ci/child-gauge/2017
Sarlio-Lahteenkorva S, Lahelma E (2001) Food insecurity is associated with past and present economic disadvantage and body mass index. J Nutr 131:2880–2884
Tanhaei M, Zare A, Shirani Bidabadi F, Joulaei R (2015) Assessment of food security status by using food diversity index: a case study in rural city near shiraz, Fars Province. J Village Dev 4:17–22
Valdes A (2019) Food security for developing countries. Routledge, London
Zhou D, Shah T, Ali S, Ahmad W, Din IU, Ilyas A (2019) Factors affecting household food security in rural northern hinterland of Pakistan. J Saudi Soc Agric Sci 18:201–210
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank all the participants of this research.
Funding
No funding was received to assist with the preparation of this manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Fatemeh Kian gathered and analyzed the primary data and wrote a draft of the manuscript. Shahla Choobchian analyzed the data and edited the manuscript. Homayoun Farhadian performed the study design and conception. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate
The study protocol was approved by the IRB of Tarbiat Modares University (Tehran, Iran). The reference number is not available. A written informed consent was obtained from the study participants.
Consent for publication
Not applicable.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
ESM 1
(DOCX 42 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kian, F., Farhadian, H. & Choobchian, S. Do Iranian households benefit from food according to their health characteristics? A case study from Alborz Province, Iran. J Public Health (Berl.) 30, 1881–1887 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-021-01631-w
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-021-01631-w