Table 1 Characteristics of households included in the study, Zahedan rural areas

Family size (persons)

4.64 (0.11)

4.28 (0.15)

4.98 (0.16)

0.004

Age of household head (years)

43.57 (0.82)

43.72 (1.39)

43.45 (0.95)

0.235

Household income (Rial³)

10,309,304.6 (573,032.7)

13,361,259.0 (994,321.5)

7,644,593.8 (565,466.2)

 < 0.001

Household’s income excluding subsidy (rial³)

7,783,696.4 (564,935.8)

10,957,500.0

(982,080.1)

5,008,812.5 (540,812.1)

 < 0.001

Village distance from the city (Km)

68.90 (1.27)

64.76 (1.65)

72.77 (1.88)

0.006

MAR⁴

67.43 (0.75)

69.50 (1.11)

65.74 (1.01)

0.009

NFD⁵ household’s agriculture, (n = 17 households) (5.2%)

1.4 (0.5)

-

-

-

NFD of homestead production (n = 145 households) (44.8%)

3.72 (0.20)

3.5 (0.34)

3.83 (0.26)

0.415

NFD of household’s food processing, (n = 141 households) (43.5%)

3.69 (0.25)

3.57 (0.36)

3.77 (0.35)

0.966

NFD of Consumption

Food purchased from the city, (n = 311 households) (96%)

15.92 (0.34)

17.58 (0.47)

14.53 (0.48)

 < 0.001

Food purchased from village, (n = 277 households) (85.5)

6.93 (0.37)

6.05 (0.53)

7.72 (0.51)

0.021

Received gift, (n = 159 household’s) (50.9%)

3.24 (0.32)

2.65 (0.41)

3.62 (0.48)

0.374

Native wild vegetables, (n = 208 households) (64.2%)

1.23 (0.08)

0.98 (0.12)

1.40 (0.12)

0.029

Household’s dietary, (n = 321 Households) (100%)

16.28 (0.19)

16.62 (0.31)

16.00 (0.25)

0.280

n (%)

n (%)

n (%)

p-value^††

Household’s Welfare index

 Low

106 (32.7)

42 (40)

63 (60)

0.002

 Medium

107 (32.7)

41 (39)

64 (61)

 High

111 (34.3)

66 (60)

44 (40)

Residence status

 Ownership

249 (77.7)

117 (47)

132 (53)

0.775

 Rent/other

71 (22.3)

32 (45.1)

39 (54.9)

Households received additional subsidies (in addition to the national subsidy)

 Yes

79 (23.5)

32 (42.7)

43 (57.3)

0.421

 No

248 (76.5)

118 (48)

128 (52)

Household head characteristics

 Gender

 Male

266 (82.1)

128 (48.5)

136 (51.5)

0.175

 Female

58 (17.9)

22 (38.6)

35 (61.4)

Education level

 Illiterate and primary

215 (67)

94 (43.7)

121 (56.3)

0.124

 High school and higher education

106 (33)

56 (52.8)

50 (47.2)

Employment

 Employed

188 (58.9)

104 (55)

85 (45)

0.001

 Unemployed/housewife

132 (41.1)

46 (35.4)

84 (64.6)

Married status

 Married

258 (80.2)

123 (47.7)

135 (52.3)

0.492

 Other (Single/Divorced/Widowed)

63 (19.8)

27 (42.9)

36 (57.1)

Weight status (based on BMI⁶)

 Normal

162 (52.6)

78 (48.8)

82 (51.2)

0.096

 Wasted

50 (16.2)

18 (33.3)

36 (66.7)

 Overweight/obese

96 (31.2)

46 (50.5)

45 (49.5)

Waist circumference

 Normal

236 (77.1)

107 (45.7)

127 (54.3)

0.759

 Abdominal obesity

70 (22.9)

33 (47.8)

36 (52.2)