Food Insecurity and Food Supplies in Latino Households with Young Children

The Need for Investment in Rigorous Interventions to Improve Child Food Security

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

Obesity and Hunger Threaten the Foundations of Child Health

Food Insecurity on College and University Campuses: A Context and Rationale for Solutions

The literature exploring the relationship between food insecurity and obesity for preschool-aged children is inconclusive and suffers from inconsistent measurement. This paper explores the relationships between concurrent household and child food insecurity and child overweight as well as differences in these relationships by child gender using a sample of 2-5 year old children. Using measured height and weight and responses to the Household Food Security Survey Module collected from a sample of 438 preschool-aged children (mean age 39 months) and their mothers, logistic regression models were fit to estimate the relationship between household and child food insecurity and child BMI. Separate models were fit for girls and boys. Twenty-seven percent of children from food insecure households and 25 % of child food insecure children were overweight or obese (BMI ≥ 85 %). There were no statistically significant associations between either household or child food insecurity and BMI for the full sample. For girls, but not boys, household food insecurity was associated with BMI z-scores (β = 0.23, p = 0.01). Although food insecurity and overweight were not significantly associated, a noteworthy proportion of food insecure children were overweight or obese. Programs for young children should address food insecurity and obesity simultaneously by ensuring that young children have regular access to nutrient-dense foods.

Food insecurity is defined as lack of access at all times, due to economic barriers, to enough food for an active and healthy lifestyle. The objective of this study was threefold: to characterize levels of food security, food insecurity, and hunger among migrant and seasonal Latino farmworkers; to assess predictors of food insecurity for this group; and to describe the strategies farmworkers use to cope with food insecurity. Adults from 102 farmworker households in North Carolina responded to a survey that used a Spanish-language adaptation of the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module and questions about sociodemographic characteristics and food behaviors. Twenty-five farmworkers participated in in-depth interviews in which they described their households' food security situation and coping strategies. Forty-eight of the 102 sample households (47.1%) were classified as food insecure, including 10 (9.8%) with moderate hunger and five (4.9%) with severe hunger. Households with children had a significantly higher prevalence of food insecurity than those without children (56.4% vs. 36.2%). Households with children accessed food programs such as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) that were unavailable to those without children, while those without children were more likely to access food pantries and to consume wild game or fish. Coping strategies included borrowing money, reducing food variety, and adults consuming less food to protect children from hunger. Food insecurity was more than four times as prevalent among farmworker households as among the general U.S. population. Policy changes to increase economic resources and access to federal programs are needed to decrease this food insecurity.

IntroductionHousehold food insecurity and inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) contribute to ill health. However, the interactions between household food insecurity, WASH and health have been rarely assessed concurrently. This study investigated compounded impacts of household food insecurity and WASH on self-reported physical and mental health of adults in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta.Materials and methodsThis cross-sectional survey interviewed 552 households in one northern and one southern province of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. The survey incorporated previously validated tools such as the Short Form 12-item Health Survey, Household Food Insecurity Assessment Scale, and the Access and Behavioural Outcome Indicators for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene. Physical and mental health were quantified using the physical health composite score (PCS) and mental health composite score (MCS), respectively. These measures were the dependent variables of interest for this study.ResultsStatistical analysis revealed that household food insecurity and using <50 litres of water per person per day (pppd) were independently associated with lower PCS (p<0.05), after adjusting for socio-economic confounders. Household food insecurity and lack of food availability, using <50 litres of water pppd, and the use of untreated drinking water were associated with lower MCS (p<0.05), with water usage being an effect modifier of the relationship between household food insecurity and MCS. The results indicate that being food insecure and having limited potable quality water had a compounding effect on MCS, compared to being individually either food insecure or having limited water.ConclusionThis study is one of only a few that have established a link between potable water availability, food insecurity and poorer physical and mental health. The results also indicate a need to validate national data with fine-scale investigations in less populous regions to evaluate national initiatives with local populations that may be at higher risk. Adopting joint dual-action policies for interventions that simultaneously address water and food insecurity should result in larger improvements in health, particularly mental health, compared to targeting either food or water insecurity in isolation.

Food insecurity is common in developing countries and related to the physical well being of families. Household food insecurity is intended to reflect a household's access, availability, and utilization of food. The relationship between paternal smoking and household food insecurity has not been well characterized. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship of paternal smoking with household food insecurity among poor families in rural Indonesia. In a cross-sectional study of 26,380 rural households in the Indonesian Nutrition Surveillance System in 2003, we examined the relationship between paternal smoking and household food insecurity score, as measured using a 9-item food security questionnaire. The prevalence of paternal smoking was 72.9%. In families with and without a father who smoked, the mean (standard error) household food insecurity score was 1.83 (0.01) and 1.48 (0.02), respectively (p<0.0001). Paternal smoking was associated with greater household food insecurity score (p<0.0001) in a multivariable linear regression model, adjusting for maternal age, maternal education, weekly household expenditure per capita, and province. Among poor families in rural Indonesia, households with a father who smokes are at greater risk of household food insecurity.

Household food insecurity and inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) contribute to ill health. However, the interactions between household food insecurity, WASH and health have been rarely assessed concurrently. This study investigated compounded impacts of household food insecurity and WASH on self-reported physical and mental health of adults in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. This cross-sectional survey interviewed 552 households in one northern and one southern province of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. The survey incorporated previously validated tools such as the Short Form 12-item Health Survey, Household Food Insecurity Assessment Scale, and the Access and Behavioural Outcome Indicators for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene. Physical and mental health were quantified using the physical health composite score (PCS) and mental health composite score (MCS), respectively. These measures were the dependent variables of interest for this study. Statistical analysis revealed that household food insecurity and using <50 litres of water per person per day (pppd) were independently associated with lower PCS (p<0.05), after adjusting for socio-economic confounders. Household food insecurity and lack of food availability, using <50 litres of water pppd, and the use of untreated drinking water were associated with lower MCS (p<0.05), with water usage being an effect modifier of the relationship between household food insecurity and MCS. The results indicate that being food insecure and having limited potable quality water had a compounding effect on MCS, compared to being individually either food insecure or having limited water. This study is one of only a few that have established a link between potable water availability, food insecurity and poorer physical and mental health. The results also indicate a need to validate national data with fine-scale investigations in less populous regions to evaluate national initiatives with local populations that may be at higher risk. Adopting joint dual-action policies for interventions that simultaneously address water and food insecurity should result in larger improvements in health, particularly mental health, compared to targeting either food or water insecurity in isolation.

Household food and water insecurity has been previously associated with adverse health consequences in children. However, these relationships are understudied in middle‐income Latin American populations such as in Ecuador, where a high prevalence of food and water insecurity has been reported. Using cross‐sectional data from 2018 Ecuadorian National Health and Nutrition Survey, we examined the association of household food insecurity (HFI), household water insecurity (HWI), and concurrent HFI‐HWI with diarrhoea, respiratory illness (RI), and stunting in 20,510 children aged ≤59 months. HFI was measured using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale. HWI was defined when households responded negatively to one or more of four drinking water indicators. Maternal caregivers reported on child diarrhoea and RI episodes during the previous 2 weeks. Measured length or height was used to assess stunting. We constructed log‐binomial regression models to estimate the associations of HFI, HWI, and concurrent HFI‐HWI with child outcomes. Moderate‐severe HFI was associated with a higher prevalence of diarrhoea (PR = 1.39; 95% CI: 1.18, 1.63) and RI (PR = 1.34; 95% CI: 1.22, 1.47), HWI with a higher prevalence of RI (PR = 1.13; 95% CI: 1.04, 1.22), and concurrent HFI‐HWI with a higher prevalence of diarrhoea (PR = 1.30; 95% CI: 1.05, 1.62) and RI (PR = 1.45; 95% CI: 1.29, 1.62). Stunting was not associated with HFI, HWI nor concurrent HFI‐HWI. These findings suggest that HFI and HWI can independently and jointly act to negatively affect children's health. Policies and interventions aimed at alleviating both food and water insecurity are needed to bring sustained health improvements in Ecuadorian children.

Comparing Food Security Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Considerations When Choosing Measures

BackgroundThe prevalence of under nutrition is very high in developing countries especially in women and under five children. Stunting alone affected an estimated 154.8 million (22.9%) under five children globally in 2016. It is one of the main undernutrition and health problems facing children in Ethiopia. Hence, the aim of the current study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of stunting among preschool children from food secure and food insecure households in Albuko district, northeast Ethiopia.MethodsThis study was addressed by a community based comparative cross sectional study design which was conducted among preschool children in Albuko district from March to April 2017. Simple random sampling was used to select the five representative kebeles. To reach study participants, systematic sampling technique was utilized. Pretested and structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Height measurement was collected for each child. Anthropometric indicator, height-for-age was determined for children using current WHO growth standards. Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with its 95 % confidence interval (CI) was computed to assess the strength of the association. To identify the associated factors of stunting, multivariable logistic regression models were built. In the multivariable analysis, variables with a P-value of <0.05 were considered statistically significant.ResultsThe overall combined prevalence of stunting among preschool children in the study area was 39.3% [95%CI; 36.3, 42.3%]. A higher stunting prevalence was observed among preschool children from food insecure households [42.8%, 95%CI; 38.4, 47.2%] than food secure ones [35.9%, 95%CI; 31.7, 40.1%]. Having uneducated mothers, large family size, and male sex were common factors significantly associated with stunting in both food secure and insecure households. While child birth order and the amount of water (<40 litters) for use were significantly associated with stunting among preschool children living in food secure households, and lesser child age, lack of extra food during pregnancy/lactation, and low dietary diversity score (DDS below four food groups) were significantly associated with stunting among preschool children from food insecure households.ConclusionThe present study showed that stunting is an important public health problem among preschool children from both food secure and insecure households in Albuko district. Though productive safety net program (PSNP) is a proven strategy in reducing the burden of childhood undernutrition/stunting, this study showed that there is no significant variation in the magnitude of stunting. However, it does not mean that PSNP interventions are not important in reducing the prevalence of stunting. Therefore, strengthening maternal nutrition, family planning utilization, and maternal education and enhancing dietary diversity, water sanitation and hygiene are critical interventions to reduce the level of stunting among under five children.

WIC Is Critical During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned From Los Angeles County Participants

A Consideration of the Evaluation of Demonstration Projects to End Childhood Hunger (EDECH)

Household food insecurity is a widely used concept in high-income countries to describe “uncertainty about future food availability and access, insufficiency in the amount and kind of food required for a healthy lifestyle, or the need to use socially unacceptable ways to acquire food.” (Anderson, 1990). In the UK, research focused on food insecurity was relatively rare before the rapid spread of food banks and growing usage from 2010 but since then, has burgeoned (Loopstra and Lambie-Mumford, 2023). There was very little peer-reviewed literature on the topic in the UK when DEFRA commissioned a Rapid Evidence Assessment of evidence on food aid in the UK (Lambie-Mumford et al 2014), but there is now an established field of research on household food insecurity and responses to it that spans disciplines including public health and nutrition, social policy, politics, geography, food policy and systems. Government monitoring of food insecurity has also evolved over this time, with the FSA first including a food insecurity measure into the Food and You survey in 2016, and the DWP including the same in the FRS from 2019/20. The Agriculture Act 2020 requires the UK government to report on food security to Parliament at least once every three years, and the UK Food Security Report that is produced to fulfil this duty now includes reporting on data from these government surveys (Department for Environment, Food &amp; Rural Affairs, 2021). This rapidly developing field has resulted in a varied landscape of research and evidence on food insecurity. The FSA has an interest in advancing its research on household food insecurity in the UK as part of its strategy. The FSA works to protect consumers’ wider interests in relation to food, and the FSA strategy 2022-2027 recognises that people are worried about food affordability and insecurity and therefore they will continue to consider the impact of these issues across all work. To inform the FSA’s approach to future collaborations and research priorities on food insecurity in the UK, it was deemed a priority to first gain greater clarity on the scope of the research landscape already in existence in the UK. Thus, this research was commissioned to give the FSA an overview of household food insecurity data and the landscape of the type of research questions related to food insecurity that have been explored in the UK context. More specifically, the aims of the project were: to scope the landscape of research and data on household food insecurity in the UK, covering that produced by academia, civil society, and government departments and including publicly available datasets; and to identify the key gaps in the research landscape and inform priorities for the FSA’s work on household food insecurity going forward. Importantly, the task was not to describe the findings of this large body of research, but rather to identify the landscape of research questions asked in relation to food insecurity and the approaches taken to answer these. The areas focused on were research on definition, concept and measurement of food insecurity, drivers of individual/household-level access to food, experiences of different population sub-groups, outcomes related to food insecurity including those related to food safety, and responses to food insecurity at the national/local level (including those by third sector organisations and local and national governments).