title: Validity of food consumption indicators in the Lao context: moving toward cross-cultural standardization.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cross-cultural validity of food security indicators is commonly presumed without questioning the suitability of generic indicators in different geographic settings. However, ethnic differences in the perception of and reporting on, food insecurity, as well as variations in consumption patterns, may limit the comparability of results. Although research on correction factors for standardization of food security indicators is in process, so far no universal indicator has been identified.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The current paper considers the ability of the Food Consumption Score (FCS) developed by the World Food Programme in southern Africa in 1996 to meet the requirement of local cultural validity in a Laotian context. The analysis is based on research that seeks to identify options for correcting possible biases linked to cultural disparities.
  
  
  METHODS
  Based on the results of a household survey conducted in different agroecological zones of Laos in 2009, the FCS was validated against a benchmark of calorie consumption. Changing the thresholds and excluding small amounts of food items consumed were tested as options to correct for biases caused by cultural disparities.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The FCS in its original form underestimates the food insecurity level in the surveyed villages. However, the closeness of fit of the FCS to the benchmark classification improves when small amounts of food items are excluded from the assessment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Further research in different cultural settings is required to generate more insight into the extent to which universal thresholds can be applied to dietary diversity indicators with or without locally determined correction factors such as the exclusion of small amounts of food items.
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Economics and Social Sciences in the Tropics and Subtropics, University of Hohenheim, Wollgrasweg 43,70599 Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Soo Mee
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Baumann
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Webb
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zeller
mesh_terms: D000353:Africa, Southern; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003469:Culture; D004032:Diet; D004034:Diet Surveys; D004435:Eating; D002149:Energy Intake; D005502:Food; D005523:Food Supply / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007812:Laos; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires