Data4Diets: Building Blocks for Diet-related
Food Security Analysis
Online at inddex.nutrition.tufts.edu/data4diets
Retrieved on 25 August 2023
About Data4Diets
The Data4Diets platform has been created as part of the International Dietary Data
Expansion (INDDEX) Project. The objective of the Data4Diets platform is to aid program
implementers, policy makers, and researchers to identify which diet-related food security
indicators are best suited for their objectives, understand how the indicators should be
constructed and used, and know which data sources and methods are preferred for
producing these indicators and information.
Please cite as: INDDEX Project (2018), Data4Diets: Building Blocks for Diet-related Food
Security Analysis. Tufts University, Boston, MA. https://inddex.nutrition.tufts.edu/data4diets.
Accessed on 25 August 2023.
,Table of Contents
About and FAQs
About Data4Diets
FAQs
Data Sources and Methods
24-hour Dietary Recall (24HR)
Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) & Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS)
Dietary Diversity
Euromonitor International
Experience-based Scales
FAO/WHO Global Individual Food consumption data Tool
Food Balance Sheets (FBS)
Food Composition Databases
Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQ)
Household Consumption and Expenditure Surveys (HCES)
Weighed Food Record (WFR)
World Food Programme (WFP) Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM)
Food Security Indicators
Depth of Food Deficit
Diet Quality Index - International (DQI-I)
Dietary Energy Supply
Dietary Exposure Assessment Indicators
Domestic Food Price Index
Food Affordability Index
Food Consumption Score (FCS)
Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)
Fresh Food Retail Volume
Household Adequacy of Fruit and Vegetable Consumption
Household Average Dietary Energy Acquisition or Consumption
Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS)
Household Food Expenditure Share
Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS)
Household Hunger Scale (HHS)
Household Share of Animal Protein in Total Protein Consumption
Household Share of Dietary Energy from Macronutrients
Household Share of Energy Consumed from Non-Staples
Household Share of Food from Various Sources
Inadequacy of Specific Micronutrient Intake
Latin American and Caribbean Food Security Scale (ELCSA)
Market-level food diversity score
Mean Adequacy Ratio (MAR)
Meat Available for Human Consumption
,Minimum Acceptable Diet (MAD)
Minimum Dietary Diversity (MDD)
Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MDD-W)
Modified Functional Attribute Diversity (MFAD)
National Average Supply of Protein
National Energy Available from Non-Staples
National Fruit and Vegetable Availability
Packaged Food Retail Volume
Per Capita Food Supply Variability
Percent of Energy Comprised of Ultra-Processed Foods
Population Share with Adequate Nutrients
Prevalence of Undernourishment
Shannon Entropy Diversity Metric
Share of Food Consumed Away from Home of Total Food Consumption
Total Individual Energy Intake
Total Individual Macronutrient Intake
Total Individual Micronutrient Intake
Volatility of Food Prices
, Deconstructing food security for improved measurement and
action: The Data4Diets framework
About Data4Diets
The Data4Diets platform was developed by the International Dietary Data Expansion
(INDDEX) Project. The INDDEX Project strives to increase the availability, accessibility, and
use of dietary data through the development of an innovative data collection platform and
demonstrating uses of existing consumption data for policies and programs. The objective of
the Data4Diets platform is to aid program implementers, policy makers, and researchers to
identify which diet-related food security indicators are best suited for their objectives,
understand how the indicators should be constructed and used, know which data sources
and methods are preferred for producing these indicators, and access case study examples
of how indicators have been analyzed to produce actionable policy information. The
Data4Diets platform provides a searchable set of indicators, descriptions of common data
sources and methods, links to guidelines for indicator construction, and concrete case
studies illustrating ways in which each type of indicator has been leveraged for diet-related
food security policy and programming.
The Data4Diets framework
The most widely accepted definition of food security derives from the 1996 World Food
Summit, which describes food security as a "state in which all people, at all times, have
physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary
needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life" (Food Agriculture Organization
[FAO], 1996).
Experts agree that no single indicator can capture all of the dimensions of this definition. And
yet, in practice, people commonly use single food security indicators without consideration of
which dimensions of this definition are being captured (or not) by their chosen metric. Given
the multidimensional nature of the food security construct, there has been continued debate
about the best way to conceptualize, select, and organize the array of existing food security
indicators. Most commonly, food security metrics reflect one of the 'pillars' of availability,
access, and utilization (and sometimes also stability) (USAID, 1992; Webb & Rogers, 2003).
Others have chosen to group food security indicators by the unit of observation, such as
national, market, household, and individual (Lele et al., 2016).
The Data4Diets platform follows a framework proposed by Coates (2013), which identifies
six policy-relevant dimensions of the food security construct that are inherent to the1996
World Food Summit definition and were shown to reflect people’s own experience of the
problem of food insecurity. The six food security components in the Data4Diets
platform—slightly adapted from Coates (2013)—are: quantity (caloric sufficiency), quality
(nutrient adequacy), preferability, safety, stability, and sustainability, all of which can be
measured at four levels (national, market, household, and individual) (Figure 1). The
indicators in the Data4Diets platform are considered 'diet-related food security indicators' in
that they measure whether food is sufficiently available, accessible, and utilizable to meet
consumption needs (where needs include preferability, quality, quantity, safety, stability, and
Food Security Analysis
Online at inddex.nutrition.tufts.edu/data4diets
Retrieved on 25 August 2023
About Data4Diets
The Data4Diets platform has been created as part of the International Dietary Data
Expansion (INDDEX) Project. The objective of the Data4Diets platform is to aid program
implementers, policy makers, and researchers to identify which diet-related food security
indicators are best suited for their objectives, understand how the indicators should be
constructed and used, and know which data sources and methods are preferred for
producing these indicators and information.
Please cite as: INDDEX Project (2018), Data4Diets: Building Blocks for Diet-related Food
Security Analysis. Tufts University, Boston, MA. https://inddex.nutrition.tufts.edu/data4diets.
Accessed on 25 August 2023.
,Table of Contents
About and FAQs
About Data4Diets
FAQs
Data Sources and Methods
24-hour Dietary Recall (24HR)
Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) & Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS)
Dietary Diversity
Euromonitor International
Experience-based Scales
FAO/WHO Global Individual Food consumption data Tool
Food Balance Sheets (FBS)
Food Composition Databases
Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQ)
Household Consumption and Expenditure Surveys (HCES)
Weighed Food Record (WFR)
World Food Programme (WFP) Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM)
Food Security Indicators
Depth of Food Deficit
Diet Quality Index - International (DQI-I)
Dietary Energy Supply
Dietary Exposure Assessment Indicators
Domestic Food Price Index
Food Affordability Index
Food Consumption Score (FCS)
Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)
Fresh Food Retail Volume
Household Adequacy of Fruit and Vegetable Consumption
Household Average Dietary Energy Acquisition or Consumption
Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS)
Household Food Expenditure Share
Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS)
Household Hunger Scale (HHS)
Household Share of Animal Protein in Total Protein Consumption
Household Share of Dietary Energy from Macronutrients
Household Share of Energy Consumed from Non-Staples
Household Share of Food from Various Sources
Inadequacy of Specific Micronutrient Intake
Latin American and Caribbean Food Security Scale (ELCSA)
Market-level food diversity score
Mean Adequacy Ratio (MAR)
Meat Available for Human Consumption
,Minimum Acceptable Diet (MAD)
Minimum Dietary Diversity (MDD)
Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MDD-W)
Modified Functional Attribute Diversity (MFAD)
National Average Supply of Protein
National Energy Available from Non-Staples
National Fruit and Vegetable Availability
Packaged Food Retail Volume
Per Capita Food Supply Variability
Percent of Energy Comprised of Ultra-Processed Foods
Population Share with Adequate Nutrients
Prevalence of Undernourishment
Shannon Entropy Diversity Metric
Share of Food Consumed Away from Home of Total Food Consumption
Total Individual Energy Intake
Total Individual Macronutrient Intake
Total Individual Micronutrient Intake
Volatility of Food Prices
, Deconstructing food security for improved measurement and
action: The Data4Diets framework
About Data4Diets
The Data4Diets platform was developed by the International Dietary Data Expansion
(INDDEX) Project. The INDDEX Project strives to increase the availability, accessibility, and
use of dietary data through the development of an innovative data collection platform and
demonstrating uses of existing consumption data for policies and programs. The objective of
the Data4Diets platform is to aid program implementers, policy makers, and researchers to
identify which diet-related food security indicators are best suited for their objectives,
understand how the indicators should be constructed and used, know which data sources
and methods are preferred for producing these indicators, and access case study examples
of how indicators have been analyzed to produce actionable policy information. The
Data4Diets platform provides a searchable set of indicators, descriptions of common data
sources and methods, links to guidelines for indicator construction, and concrete case
studies illustrating ways in which each type of indicator has been leveraged for diet-related
food security policy and programming.
The Data4Diets framework
The most widely accepted definition of food security derives from the 1996 World Food
Summit, which describes food security as a "state in which all people, at all times, have
physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary
needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life" (Food Agriculture Organization
[FAO], 1996).
Experts agree that no single indicator can capture all of the dimensions of this definition. And
yet, in practice, people commonly use single food security indicators without consideration of
which dimensions of this definition are being captured (or not) by their chosen metric. Given
the multidimensional nature of the food security construct, there has been continued debate
about the best way to conceptualize, select, and organize the array of existing food security
indicators. Most commonly, food security metrics reflect one of the 'pillars' of availability,
access, and utilization (and sometimes also stability) (USAID, 1992; Webb & Rogers, 2003).
Others have chosen to group food security indicators by the unit of observation, such as
national, market, household, and individual (Lele et al., 2016).
The Data4Diets platform follows a framework proposed by Coates (2013), which identifies
six policy-relevant dimensions of the food security construct that are inherent to the1996
World Food Summit definition and were shown to reflect people’s own experience of the
problem of food insecurity. The six food security components in the Data4Diets
platform—slightly adapted from Coates (2013)—are: quantity (caloric sufficiency), quality
(nutrient adequacy), preferability, safety, stability, and sustainability, all of which can be
measured at four levels (national, market, household, and individual) (Figure 1). The
indicators in the Data4Diets platform are considered 'diet-related food security indicators' in
that they measure whether food is sufficiently available, accessible, and utilizable to meet
consumption needs (where needs include preferability, quality, quantity, safety, stability, and
