Abstract
Few studies have investigated food security, dietary quality, or unfavorable food intake through self-reports among children and adolescents in Asia. This study assessed the association of perceived food insecurity with dietary quality and unfavorable food intake among 1111 children and 538 adolescents from economically disadvantaged families in Taiwan. Food security status was collected by a validated questionnaire. Dietary quality was examined using a dietary diversity score (DDS). Unfavorable food intake was defined as fried food, bread/cake/pastries, sugar-sweetened beverages, and biscuits/chips. Food-insecure participants had lower DDS, whole grains and protein-rich food intake than food-secure participants. Furthermore, food-insecure children had a higher frequency of unfavorable food consumption. The level of children’s food insecurity was inversely associated with DDS (β: −0.047, 95% CI: −0.085 to −0.009) but positively with bread/pastry (β: 0.103, 95% CI: 0.022–0.184) and sugar-sweetened beverages (β: 0.117, 95% CI: 0.018–0.215) intake. Adolescents who reported food insecurity and not enough money for household expenses had an odds ratio of 2.85 (95% CI: 1.15–7.10) for poor DDS relative to their food-secure and financially able counterparts. We recommended that health policy needs to include diversifying food and nutrition education for vulnerable children and adolescents to improve dietary quality.
Highlights
The elimination of hunger is one of the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 proposed by the United Nations [1]
The impact of the pandemic has led to difficulties in food transportation, increased food prices, and loss of income, which has increased the risk of food insecurity among children and adolescents from economically disadvantaged households [4,5]
Our results revealed that dietary diversity is associated with perceived food security among children
Summary
The elimination of hunger is one of the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 proposed by the United Nations [1]. Nutritional policies to end hunger have mainly focused on increasing food availability, and limited data are available on diet quality [1]. A healthy diet should be both sufficient and diverse for physiological and psychological development in childhood and adolescence. The prevalence of global food insecurity in 2020 increased from 26.6% to 30.4% compared to 2019, with the rate increasing from 22.7% to 25.8% for the Asian region, during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic [3]. The impact of the pandemic has led to difficulties in food transportation, increased food prices, and loss of income, which has increased the risk of food insecurity among children and adolescents from economically disadvantaged households [4,5]. Exploring food security and its association with dietary quality and unfavorable food intake during the COVID-19 pandemic could provide in-
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