Food insecurity and food consumption among children who receive federal food assistance

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the association between household food insecurity and food intake among children who participated in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), including a sub-sample who also participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Data came from the 2014 and 2017 Los Angeles County WIC Surveys, involving a random sample of WIC participating families in Los Angeles, California. Outcome variables were average daily consumption of fruit, 100% fruit juice, vegetables, milk, other juice, other sweetened drinks, and sweet foods, and frequency of fast-food consumption, as reported by the child's caregiver. Our predictor was household food insecurity, obtained from the 6-item Household Food Security Survey Module. Poisson regression (fruit, 100% fruit juice, vegetables, and milk), Negative Binomial regression (other juice, other sweetened drinks, and sweet foods) and multinomial logistic regression (frequency of fast food) models were run, adjusting for child's age and sex; maternal age, ethnicity and language, education, and employment; and type of WIC participation (WIC only vs. WIC + SNAP). In fully adjusted models, household food insecurity was associated with higher consumption of 100% fruit juice (RR = 1.08, 95%CI = 1.03–1.11), milk (RR = 1.04, 95%CI = 1.01–1.07), other juice (RR = 1.16, 95%CI = 1.08–1.26), other sweetened drinks (RR = 1.28, 95%CI = 1.12–1.46), and sweet foods (RR = 1.09, 95%CI = 1.04–1.14). No significant associations were found between household food insecurity and fruit and vegetable consumption. Nutrition education provided by WIC should continue to emphasize the importance of consuming fresh foods, while limiting foods high in sugar for this young population. Efforts should be made to identify food insecure families at the point of service delivery for enhanced nutrition education and social services referrals.