The nutritional performance of households depends on various factors such as their income level, market access to foodstuff and the degree of their knowledge in nutrition. In recent years there has been much discussion and intensive debate regarding the optimum consumption pattern in Iran. Among other proposals, the experts have put a great deal of emphasis on the access of households to diversified nutritious substances.
In economics, the optimum or efficiency food consumption pattern could be defined as a pattern which could ensure the access to diversified food substances of high nutritious values (such as enriched calorie, protein, mineral resources and other high quality food ingredients)
In this paper, the nutritional performance of Iranian households is evaluated by employing the linear programming method. Then the minimum and efficient costs for meeting the appropriate nutritious requirements are computed and for this purpose the proposed pattern by experts in the field is utilized.
The findings of the paper indicate that in determining their composition of the nutritional basket, the rural and urban households in Iran have acted efficiently. Furthermore the results also demonstrate that the households have efficiently allocated their resources among different foodstuff items and in line and consistent with the recommendations of the nutrition experts