Food consumption patterns and monetary poverty in Colombia

We estimated the inequalities in three patterns of food consumption in Colombian adults (18 and 64 years) related to monetary poverty. An ecological study was conducted, which linked the monetary poverty of 33 geo-demographic units with three consumption patterns obtained through factor analysis using the National Nutrition Situation Survey in Colombia-2010. Using Epidat v. 4.2 (R), inequality indexes based on ranges, disparity or dispersion were calculated, in disproportionality, based on regression models and those based on the concept of entropy. The determination coefficient (r(2) ) for the fruit-vegetable/dairy pattern was 0.30, 0.08 for the traditional pattern/starch, 0.00 and for the snack pattern. The highest rate ratio was for the fruit-vegetable/dairy pattern (2.61), followed by the ratio for the traditional pattern/starch (0.93), and the lowest for the snack pattern (0.85). Inequality reached the highest Gini coefficient in the pattern of snack consumption (0.26), followed by that reached in the traditional pattern/starch (0.17) and the fruit-vegetable/dairy pattern (0.1 2). We showed that the greatest inequality occurred in the fruit-vegetable / dairy consumption pattern, it is desirable to increase the adherence to the traditional pattern and decrease the protein intake in the richest population.