Changing Dietary Habits: The Impact of Urbanization and Rising Socio-Economic Status in Families from Burkina Faso in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

(1) Background: Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing the fastest urbanization worldwide. People in rural areas still have a traditional and rural lifestyle, whereas the Westernization of diet and lifestyle is already evident in urban areas. This study describes dietary habits of families in Burkina Faso living at different levels of urbanization. (2) Methods: Data on lifestyle, socio-economic conditions, health status and anthropometry were collected from 30 families living in rural villages, a small town and the capital city. A food frequency questionnaire and a 24 h recall diary were used to estimate dietary habits and macronutrients intake. (3) Results: The urban cohort showed a more diversified diet, with a higher intake of animal protein and, especially in children, a higher consumption of simple sugars. Fiber intake was significantly higher in the rural and semi-urbanized cohorts. As expected, overweight and obesity gradually increased with the level of urbanization. In semi-urbanized and urban families, we observed coexistence of under- and over-nutrition, whereas in rural families, a portion of children were wasted and stunted, and adults were underweight. (4) Conclusions: These three cohorts represent a model of the effect on diet of rural-to-urban migration. Rural diet and traditional habits are replaced by a Western-oriented diet when families move to urbanized areas. This dietary transition and increased socio-economic status in newly developing urban areas have a major impact on disease epidemiology, resembling the past evolution in Western countries.

The YUVAAN cohort: an innovative multi-generational platform for health systems and population health interventions to minimize intergenerational transmission of non-communicable diseases in India

“…Comparing our initial results to those of previous studies, it is evident that there have been changes in the prevalence and patterns of NCDs over time (53). Preliminary findings from our study identifies high rates of diabetes and hypertension among men and women in rural areas, surpassing the figures reported in previous research conducted in similar regions.…”

“…Preliminary findings from our study identifies high rates of diabetes and hypertension among men and women in rural areas, surpassing the figures reported in previous research conducted in similar regions. This discrepancy suggests that there may have been significant shifts in the burden of these diseases within the Indian population, where traditionally the burden of these NCDs has been seen predominantly in urban cohorts (53). These findings align with previous studies that have highlighted the impact of urbanization-induced characteristics in the food and physical environments among rural areas, which promote obesity, diabetes, and other cardio-metabolic diseases (54).…”

Dietary approaches for normalizing dysbiosis induced by high-fat, obesogenic diets

“…The transition to a Western style of diet is now affecting a large part of the world as developing nations become more affluent and take on Western lifestyles [1][2][3]. The Western diet is characterized by higher oil, meat and sugar intakes, and by lower fiber and micronutrient intakes versus that found in most traditional diets, for example the diets that were traditionally consumed in Asia and Greece [4].…”

Empirical Analysis of Population Urbanization and Residents’ Life Satisfaction—Based on 2017 CGSS

“…There are few studies on the impact of population urbanization on human capital [74][75][76] and family capital [77,78] accumulation, but from the perspective of urbanization, it is found that the process of urbanization will affect various aspects of society [79][80][81]. In the process of population urbanization, the change in social population structure will improve the basic platform of the individual [10,62], and the individual human capital will be enhanced [75].…”