Nutrient Consumption, Diversity and Food Security of the Income deciles of Tehran Province

The rapid acceleration of inflation over the past decade has increased the cost of living in the metropolitan area of Tehran. The World Food Program (WFP) report shows that Tehran province has the highest rate of welfare inequality compared to other provinces in Iran, and a significant portion of the province's population has only abdominal satiety. This has led to an increase in short stature, cardiovascular disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes, tooth decay and gastrointestinal diseases among Tehran families. In this regard, although with the decision of the Working Group on Health and Food Security and the participation of various agencies, programs have been carried out to improve the level of health and nutrition of the residents of the province, but the prevalence of various deficiencies and diseases may be due to lack of nutrients in the food basket and as a result of food insecurity.

Since ensuring health and food security is one of the strategic goals of the 20-year vision document of the country, in the present study, households living in Tehran province were first divided into three lower income deciles, four middle deciles and three upper income deciles according to the raw data of the income expenditure of the Statistics Center of Iran. Then based on the classification of the commodity group of the Statistics Center of Iran and using the nutritional performance matrix, the level of nutrient intake in different income deciles of Tehran province in 2018 has been investigated. Then, using the Matching method, nutrient consumption, the diversity and food security of the province's income deciles have been analyzed.

The results showed that the level of calcium, iron and vitamin C intake among households in the lower three deciles of Tehran province is very low and an adult received only about 14, 487 and 75 mg of these three nutrients per day. As for other nutrients, an adult in the lower three deciles of income received protein and vitamin A 72 mg and 551 micrograms, respectively which is at the minimum daily requirement and only carbohydrates and vitamin B1 has been received 339 g and 1.5 mg, respectively which is above the minimum daily requirement. It should be noted that in all income deciles, the level of carbohydrate intake is more than triple the daily threshold required by an adult (130 g). Finally, according to the results, the lower three deciles of income have lower diversity and food security than the other deciles.

Considering the current situation of receiving micronutrients in Tehran province, the culture and nutritional literacy of households has a great importance and role that responsible organizations can play an important role in promoting it through culture as well as specialized and general education. At the same time, the stability of food prices along with the provision of cash grants and targeted food packages can increase the consumption and food diversity of households and significantly increase food security in poor households, especially women and children. In this regard, considering that a significant part of the country's resources is wasted annually in the form of hidden and non-targeted subsidies, Iran ranks first in the world in the payment of non-targeted food and fuel subsidies, therefore, targeting subsidies and paying cash and non-cash subsidies with proper identification of the target community, in accordance with the conditions of the country is an important issue that should be considered by policy makers.