Abstract

Food insecurity is associated with poor health outcomes. In particular, previous studies marked the adverse outcomes on mental health. This study examined the association of food insecurity and mental health in Korean adults using the data from the 2013 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). The study population was 5,685 adults in Korea. Food insecurity was examined using 18-items. A diagnosis of depression was considered to be depression. Depressive symptoms were defined as more than 2 weeks of depression feelings. Multivariate logistic regression models examined the associations between food insecurity and depression and depressive symptom. The overall prevalence of depression was 3.8% in the participants. Food insecurity was associated significantly with depression and depressive symptom in the unadjusted and age and sex adjusted model. Food insecurity was associated with depression, depressive symptoms in the multivariate logistic regression model (OR:3.49, OR:3.70). Marginal food insecurity was not associated with depression in the multivariate logistic regression model. The results showed that food insecurity is associated with depression and depressive symptoms in adults. Multi-disciplinary interventions are needed including nutrition, health, health policy, and a healthy environment for the food insecurity group to achieve a better health outcome, especially mental health.

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