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London - People across the world are changing their eating habits because of the rising cost of food, according to a survey of 17 countries carried out by Oxfam and released Wednesday.
More than half of those questioned, or 53%, have modified their diet in the last two years, with 39% of those who had changed what they eat blaming higher prices.
In Kenya, 76% of respondents said they had changed their diet with 79% blaming the price of food. The second-highest percentage was in South Africa with 69%.
But Western countries have also been affected, with 55% of people in the United States saying they were no longer eating the same foods as two years ago, and 31% attributing this to higher prices.
Overall, cost was by far the biggest concern about food, with 66% citing it as one of their main worries.
The opinion poll was conducted ahead of a meeting of agriculture ministers from G20 countries in France next week, when the global food price crisis will be discussed.
Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of Oxfam, said: "Our diets are changing fast and for too many people it is a change for the worst.
"Huge numbers of people, especially in the world's poorest countries, are cutting back on the quantity or quality of the food they eat because of rising food prices."
A Guatemalan resident told Oxfam that poorer inhabitants could no longer afford sugar and a Kenyan national revealed that milk, margarine and jam were all now prohibitively expensive with rice, beans and meat heading the same way.
Lula da Silva, former president of Brazil, told the charity: "It's not acceptable that a child ever goes without a daily glass of milk.
"It's not acceptable that a child has less than three meals a day - these are fundamental rights."
Oxfam called on G20 leaders to force food prices down by regulating commodity markets and reforming "flawed biofuels policies", which turn too much agricultural land over to the production of biofuels.
The charity also called on G20 leaders to invest in small-scale producers in developing countries.
In total, 16 421 people were interviewed in April and May for the survey.
More than half of those questioned, or 53%, have modified their diet in the last two years, with 39% of those who had changed what they eat blaming higher prices.
In Kenya, 76% of respondents said they had changed their diet with 79% blaming the price of food. The second-highest percentage was in South Africa with 69%.
But Western countries have also been affected, with 55% of people in the United States saying they were no longer eating the same foods as two years ago, and 31% attributing this to higher prices.
Overall, cost was by far the biggest concern about food, with 66% citing it as one of their main worries.
The opinion poll was conducted ahead of a meeting of agriculture ministers from G20 countries in France next week, when the global food price crisis will be discussed.
Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of Oxfam, said: "Our diets are changing fast and for too many people it is a change for the worst.
"Huge numbers of people, especially in the world's poorest countries, are cutting back on the quantity or quality of the food they eat because of rising food prices."
A Guatemalan resident told Oxfam that poorer inhabitants could no longer afford sugar and a Kenyan national revealed that milk, margarine and jam were all now prohibitively expensive with rice, beans and meat heading the same way.
Lula da Silva, former president of Brazil, told the charity: "It's not acceptable that a child ever goes without a daily glass of milk.
"It's not acceptable that a child has less than three meals a day - these are fundamental rights."
Oxfam called on G20 leaders to force food prices down by regulating commodity markets and reforming "flawed biofuels policies", which turn too much agricultural land over to the production of biofuels.
The charity also called on G20 leaders to invest in small-scale producers in developing countries.
In total, 16 421 people were interviewed in April and May for the survey.
