Spatial influence on qualitative food consumption in Colombia

Abstract

Spatial location is a factor that may fa-cilitate the consumption of processed foods due to the ease of access, especially in highly urbanized, high density populations. This study presents the differences in food consumption in populations with different densities and urban and rural characteristics, and income above and below ten dollars a day. A sample of 2,130 subjects was used from 9 populations that included the Capital of Colombia, outlying medium-sized municipali-ties, metropolitan-area municipalities and small villages. The results confirm that processed and ultra-processed foods are consumed more in cities and urban areas than in smaller and rural popu-lations, and that there are differences in consumption generated by income.