Food insecurity may be linked to childhood obesity in low-income Mexican-American families

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between past and current maternal food insecurity and child-feeding practices among low-income Mexican-American families. Participants in the study were mother-child pairs enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). The findings suggest that low-income Mexican-American mothers who are currently experiencing food insecurity were more likely to worry that their children were eating too much food and tended to offer smaller portion sizes to their children than mothers not currently experiencing food insecurity. Mothers who were overweight were more than twice as likely to have overweight children than mothers who were not overweight.