ABSTRACT
While often associated with poverty and starvation, malnutrition depends on a variety of social, economic, and health factors and is measured with many different criteria, including energy requirements, food supply, food consumption, anthropometric data, and micronutrient deficiencies. Using the National Capital Region of the Philippines as a case study, this project analyzes the distribution of food consumed across different socioeconomic classes, using four criteria to determine a multi-dimensional composite metric of malnutrition in order to compare malnutrition across different classes. Metrics considered are the ratio of macronutrients, the absolute number of grams of protein, the absolute number of grams of fat, and the absolute number of calories as energy intake. The author discovered that the distribution of types of food consumed per capita follows a power law, which
decreases in accuracy of fit as the socioeconomic status of the class decreases. The indicators of malnutrition indicate that common features of malnutrition are prevalent across all classes, while power law analysis provides useful insights into recommendations for managing food security and stability.
