At home and outside home food complementarity in Bamako (Mali): nutritional and economic aspects. What is the rationality of the consumers' choices.

Background. Great modifications in social and family relationships and life style come front I rapid urbanisation in developing countries, Various typ es of malnutrition coexist bl these towns. Food consumption outside the hom e is more and more common. This in torn encourages rapid growth in the food informal economic sector which must be taken into account in food and nutr ition policy and planning. The aim of this study was to analyse the charact eristics and complementarities between home and outside the home food consu mption of different kinds of individuals coming from different kinds of fam ilies in Bamako, in terms of expenditures and aspects of food and nutrition al intakes. Methods: 366 individuals from 74 families were interviewed They were chosen according to defined criteria in three districts of Bamako of high, middle and poor socio-economic level. Results: At home the daily food expenditure is 2.27 and 3.79 times greater per individual in rich than in middle income and poor families respectively Animal proteins are respectively 41%, 19% and 9% of daily protein intake. Energy from lipids is 20 to 30% in rich and middle families, In poor ones i t is only 15% which is the lower limit of nutritional recommendations. More over, contrary to proteins and carbohydrates, the cost of lipids seems, alm ost incompressible. Almost everybody eats out of home food, particularly ch ildren. Its cost, on an energy basis, is higher than home food. The expense is 19 to 27% of the family food budget. It appeals necessary to the satisf action of nutritional requirements in middle income and poor families. Desp ite various costs, whatever De the socio-economic level, energy intakes com ing from that food are equivalent in absolute terms among various kinds of individuals: children, men and women. Conclusion: Families had to adapt their food strategies after the 1994 Fran c CFA devaluation. Various hypotheses are presented, linked to intra-family ] relationships and, within poor families, to insertion in the street food economic sector, in order to understand the logic of food choices. Such an analysis, where health, nutritional, economic, social and cultural aspects of food are taken into account, allows some concrete orientations for urban food and nutrition policy.