Abstract
Introduction: In many affluent countries, including Israel, networks of food banks and pantries have increasing responsibility to alleviate endemic poverty and food insecurity. While they may relieve acute hunger, their long-term influence on health and well-being is poorly understood.Methods: An exploratory cross-sectional telephone survey assessed both adequacy and quality of food aid provided via food pantries in the Leket Israel food bank network, in relation to recipients' dietary needs and health. The quality of food baskets and recipient diets were given a Healthy Portions Score (HPS) to measure compliance with Government guidelines for a “Basic Healthy Food Basket,” and a Nutrient Density Score (NDS) to capture how well the food achieved the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for vital macro and micronutrients. A total of 105 pantry users were surveyed from 16 pantries around the country.Results: The basket HPS correlated positively and highly significantly with dietary quality (individual NDS) after adjusting for gender, marital status and country of birth (standardized β = 0.22, p = 0.03). Nearly half (46%) reported food insecurity with hunger. Two thirds were overweight or obese, and anemia, cardiovascular and metabolic disease were prevalent. The average food basket provides 30% of energy, 55% of protein, 50% of fiber, but only 33% or less of the household requirement for most minerals and vitamins. Only 60% of participants met their estimated energy requirements, and the intake of many essential micronutrients was well below the RDA. Fruits and vegetable portions contributed by Leket Israel correlated positively with the dietary quality (individual NDS) after adjustment for the same covariates (Standardized β = 0.20, p = 0.04).Discussion: A structured telephone survey proved a feasible method to study the impact of food-aid quality on the nutrition and health of food pantry users in an affluent country. Food baskets with fruits, vegetables and higher quality nutrition were correlated with healthier diets among the recipients. Data correlating food-aid quality and recipient diet and health is essential to effective policy making.
Highlights
In many affluent countries, including Israel, networks of food banks and pantries have increasing responsibility to alleviate endemic poverty and food insecurity
The need for research relating the quality of food provided by food banks and pantries in affluent countries to the quality of the aid recipient’s diet and health has been highlighted by recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses [20, 21]
Our study addressed this important question by simultaneously assessing food-aid and individual dietary quality in a reasonably large convenience sample representing a wide variety of food pantries and social diversity
Summary
In many affluent countries, including Israel, networks of food banks and pantries have increasing responsibility to alleviate endemic poverty and food insecurity. Because distributing perishable nutrient-dense food (i.e., meat, dairy, fruits, and vegetables) requires considerable investments in infrastructure and expertise, many food banks distribute staples that do not require refrigeration, have a long shelf-life and are replete in calories but poor in essential micronutrients and minerals [7,8,9] Habitual consumption of such poor quality food might compound the ill effects of poverty-driven high-calorie and low-nutrient diets [10,11,12] associated with obesity, mineral, and vitamin deficiencies, and a high risk of chronic diet-related diseases including high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and anemia [13,14,15,16,17]. Because the impact of “wholesale” foodbanks is indirect, it is essential to develop the means to ascertain the predicted benefit to the individual recipient or household and its magnitude
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