The food purchases of elderly women living alone: a statistical inconsistency and its investigation

Abstract

Budgetary surveys of the quantities of food obtained for consumption by whole households cannot by their very nature give direct information about the diets of individuals. This may not matter to economists; to nutritionists it is a most serious limitation. There is only one small but important group of households, those consisting of one person, for whom it is prima facie possible to use budgetary records to assess actual food consumption. Some early National Food Survey records indicated that such assessments were valid. The winter of 1947-8 was one of privation, judged by current British standards. Bread and potatoes, which had been freely available throughout the war, were both rationed, and during the previous year the people as a whole had lost weight (Kemsley, 1953) and complained publicly about the food supply (Harries & Hollingsworth, 1953). The continuous survey of the diets of urban working-class households begun in 1940 was therefore suspended for 6 months (October 1947-March 1948) to allow the field workers to concentrate on those groups most likely to be affected by the shortages, especially heavy manual workers' households and old-age pensioners living alone. The sample in each group was augmented by a small initial sample of households providing fresh personal contacts for survey in the neighbourhood. The defects of the method are obvious (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: National Food Survey Committee, 1956, Appendix D), but a rapid survey of very restricted groups could hardly have been made otherwise. The initial sample of pensioners was based on registrations for additional tea for those over 70 years of age, but some of the added pensioners were in their sixties. The resulting sample contained 508 women aged over 60 years: the energy values of their food consumption, estimated from their own

Thermic Effect of Feeding in Relation to Energy Balance in Elderly Men

“…food intake falls [3] and nutritional status has been reported by many workers as being low [3][4][5], Despite this, the 'average' elderly person is reported to be 20% above the suggested weight for height [6] and though this could be a result of an inadequate reduction in energy intake, the available evidence does not support this.…”

Construction of a modest‐but‐adequate food budget for households with two adults and one pre‐school child: a preliminary investigation

“…While such data are readily collected from large numbers of households and deal with actual purchases and expenditure (the substance of any budget), they typically omit food and drink purchased and eaten away from home, such as canteen or school meals, sweets, soft drinks and alcoholic beverages. Also, there is evidence that food purchasing surveys distort the usual pattern of purchases and consumption, either by encouraging the use of stored food in surveys in which a larder inventory is included (Hollingsworth & Baines,196l), or by promoting 'over-purchasing' of foodstuffs over and above actual consumption in surveys without a larder inventory [Platt et al, 1964;Nelson et al, 1985). There is also the problem of estimating the nutrient content of food purchases when trying to assess dietary adequacy.…”

Family food purchases and home food consumption: comparison of nutrient contents

“…Overpurchasing. The very act of being surveyed may have stimulated extra purchasing during the week, as was shown to occur in NFS households containing elderly women living alone (Platt et al 1964). Purchases made in bulk or stimulated by special offers and discounts plus the need to avoid running out of non-perishables may mean that a surplus is often purchased for the larder.…”

“…Validation studies showed little change in the energy value of purchases immediately before and after larder inventories were discontinued, with one exception: the energy content of purchases of single female old-age-pensioner (OAP) households was 2.09 MJ (500 kcal)/person per d greater after inventories ended (Platt et al 1964). Platt et al (1964) also examined analyses by Baines & Hollingsworth (1955) and observed that in this type of household, between April 1953 andMarch 1954, 'the energy value of food obtained for 374…”

“…Platt et al (1964) also examined analyses by Baines & Hollingsworth (1955) and observed that in this type of household, between April 1953 andMarch 1954, 'the energy value of food obtained for 374…”