Growing Children: The relationship between food insecurity and child growth and development.

• Main Author: Ruiz, Ernesto
• Format: Others
• Published: Scholar Commons 2014
• Subjects: Biocultural Anthropology; Costa Rica; Cultural Consonance; Food Systems; Globalization; Anthropology
• Online Access: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/5299; https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6495&context=etd

This dissertation examined the relationship between food security status and cultural congruence and indicators of child growth and development in a rural mountain town in Costa Rica. Results show that children from food secure households are significantly shorter and shorter-legged than their food insecure counterparts. It is theorized that these findings correspond to low quality diets associated with increasing commodification of food systems in rural Costa Rica. Identity-based mechanisms are discussed as potential factors contributing to the increasing commodification of life through the encroachment of the global market economy.