Abstract
Food insecurity is a worldwide problem and has been shown to contribute to poor health and nutritional outcomes. In Malaysia, poor dietary intake, overweight and obesity, diabetes mellitus, and hypercholesterolaemia have been reported to be more prevalent in females compared to males and in Indians compared to other ethnic groups. A cross-sectional study was designed to investigate the relationship between food insecurity and health and nutritional status among 169 Indian women (19-49 years old, non-pregnant, and non-lactating) from randomly-selected palm-plantation households in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Subjects were interviewed for socioeconomic and demographic data, and information on household food security and dietary intake. They were examined for weight, height, waist-circumference, blood pressure and lipids, and plasma glucose levels. For analysis of data, descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and logistic regression were used. Majority (85.2%) of the households showed food insecurity as assessed using the Radimer/Cornell Hunger and Food Insecurity Instrument. The food-secure women had significantly higher mean years of education and lower mean number of children than food-insecure groups (p<0.05). There was a significant decrease in the mean household income and income per capita as food insecurity worsened (p<0.05). Women who reported food security had significantly higher mean diet diversity score (11.60±4.13) than child hunger (9.23±3.36). The group of subjects with higher intake of meat/fish/poultry/legumes (crude odds ratio [OR]=0.53, confidence interval [CI]=0.29-0.95) and higher diet diversity score (crude OR=0.87, CI=0.78-0.97) was more likely to have < 3 health risks. Diet diversity score remained a significant protective factor against heath risks even after adjusting for other variables. The present study showed that food insecurity is indirectly associated with poor health and nutritional status. Therefore, appropriate community-based interventions should be designed and implemented to address the problems of food insecurity and possible health and nutritional outcomes.
Highlights
Food insecurity is a worldwide problem, and it is a common phenomenon among the poor households in many developed and developing countries and has been shown to contribute to poor health and nutritional outcomes
The relationship between poverty and poor health and nutrition is wellestablished in Malaysia [12], not much is known on the relationship between food security and poor health and nutritional status among Indian women in palm-plantation households, and this study was designed to investigate this association
The subjects were Indian women (19-49 years old, non-pregnant, and non-lactating). Since they were in the reproductive age-group, we found sufficient children in these households to see some level of food insecurity among children, popularly called ‘child hunger’
Summary
Food insecurity is a worldwide problem, and it is a common phenomenon among the poor households in many developed and developing countries and has been shown to contribute to poor health and nutritional outcomes. Food insecurity is related to lower macro- and micronutrient intakes, lower intake of fruits and vegetables, and lack of diet diversity. These items contribute to higher prevalence of underweight or overweight and obesity, higher or lower blood cholesterol lev-. There are many factors associated with poor health and nutrition among women and Indians in Malaysia, and one is poverty. The relationship between poverty and poor health and nutrition is wellestablished in Malaysia [12], not much is known on the relationship between food security and poor health and nutritional status among Indian women in palm-plantation households, and this study was designed to investigate this association
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