Rural wealth is associated with the consumption of nutritious and healthy foods in Zambia

We examine the relationship between rural wealth and the consumption of nutritious and healthy foods. Our measure of rural wealth is based on productive assets and the ownership of livestock by households. We relate this to household dietary diversity and food based dietary guidelines (FBDGs) which is a government-led initiative to promote overall health and prevent chronic diseases by fostering the consumption of nutritious and healthy foods. Employing a rich balanced panel data of about 6626 farm households, we estimate different panel data estimators. Our results reveal a clear positive association between wealth and dietary diversity a s well as the FBDGs. As rural wealth increases, households tend to shift from starchy foods to more nutrient-rich sources, particularly those high in protein. Notably, individual food groups such as fruits, vegetables, dairy, legumes, and fish show increases in consumption as assets and livestock holdings grow, as do animal-sourced foods such as meat, milk, and eggs. Among livestock, large ruminants have the greatest impact on households' intake of nutritious foods. Further, our findings highlight the gendered nature of nutritional gains, with all households-including those headed by women benefiting from increased wealth. Nutritional improvements are especially pronounced when women have greater bargaining and decision-making power in the household. Overall, we show that livestock and asset ownership could be significant entry and leveraging points for improving the consumption of nutritious and healthy foods with implications for improved health and wellbeing.