Dietary Intake of Key Food and Beverage Groups Among a Diverse Sample of Low-Income and Food-Insecure Mothers

Abstract

To describe baseline food insecurity and dietary intake for a diverse sample of low-income mothers in North Carolina. Baseline data came from participants in the Voices into Action (VIA) project, who were primary caretaker of at least one child (2-8 years). This analysis included mothers with complete data for sociodemographics, food security status, and dietary recalls (n=101). Participants had household incomes <200% of the federal poverty line, and were racially and ethnically diverse (41% black, 34% white, 25% Latina). Within-person means of dietary variables (servings/day) were calculated across individual recalls (3 recalls per participant). We examined differences in dietary variables by sociodemographics and food insecurity status. More than half of mothers were food insecure; 19% were very food insecure. Average intake of healthful foods—whole fruits, whole grains, seafood and plant proteins—were somewhat low (0.5, 1.0, and 0.8 servings/day, respectively). Yet, average intake of less healthful foods—salty snacks and sweets—were also fairly low (0.4 and 0.8 servings/day, respectively). Calorically sweetened, non-dairy beverages were somewhat high (2.5 servings/day). There were differences by food insecurity status. Low-income and food-insecure populations are often described as relying on low-cost, energy-dense foods for nutritional needs. However, few studies have examined comprehensive dietary intake data for this population. These findings question the assumption that low-income, food-insecure mothers are relying heavily on nutritionally poor, energy dense foods, and suggest that mothers' higher intake of sweetened beverages might be a compensatory behavior related to food insecurity.