A diet survey in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The diets of various Zimbabweans: black and white, middle class and working class, rural and urban are compared. Urban volunteers were recruited from a number of business premises in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. Rural volunteers were recruited at several villages and cooperative farms averaging 200 km from the capital. The composition of the diets, expressed as per cent total energy obtained from fat, carbohydrate, and protein, and megajoules (MJ) energy respectively, were: white middle class, 40 per cent, 39 per cent, 16 per cent, 9.35 MJ (M), 6.65 MJ (F); black middle class, 30 per cent, 49 per cent, 17 per cent, 10.96 MJ (M), 6.60 MJ (F); black urban working class, 25 per cent, 53 per cent, 17 per cent, 10.96 MJ (M), 7.53 MJ (F); black urban middle class, 23 per cent, 54 per cent, 16 per cent, 10.88 MJ (M), 7.67 MJ (F); and black rural working class, 22 per cent, 58 per cent, 17 per cent, 9.43 MJ (M), 8.02 MJ (F). The results suggest that the sample of Zimbabweans studied here are well nourished, even by the standards of developed countries. Anthropometric data supports this, showing that Zimbabwean peasants are both taller and heavier than their counterparts in Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya, all members of the Bantu cultural group in East and Central Africa.