DEVIATIONS FROM THE LEAST-COST DIETS FOR INFANTS

This paper addresses an on-going controversy in the nutrition literatu re over the size and significance of the nutrient elasticity with resp ect to food expenditure. Linear programming methods are used to estima te the least-cost diets for infants in Cebu, Philippines. The results imply that, overall, the actual expenditure is greater than the least- cost expenditure. Data and regression analyses are used to explore the determinants of the deviations from the least-cost diets, The results support the hypotheses that the deviations increase with income due t o the diminishing marginal utility of nutrients and that the deviation s fall as the nutritional knowledge of the mother increases.