(CNN) A mother contemplates how she does her food shopping amid shortages and high inflation in Venezuela: Whatever is cheapest in the season is what her children eat, substituting one thing for another and in much smaller portions than before. "What I have at home is enough to give them a plain arepa, and it's very little for each one," the woman, Grecia Gonzalez, told CNN en Español, referring to the traditional white corn cakes. "And for me, I don't care about going without eating. As a mother you're always thinking about feeding (your children)." New data from an annual national survey by three of Venezuela's major universities and other research groups has found that Gonzalez's experience is becoming more common in the oil-rich South American country.Study's authors estimate that 9.6 million Venezuelans eat two or fewer daily mealsMore families substituting usual foodstuffs for cheaper alternatives
And like Gonzalez and her children, the survey found more _ are skipping meals and the percentage of malnourished is growing. The country's vice president at the time, in accepting the honor, said more than 95% of _ were eating three meals per day.