Smaller children of 2 years from food insecure households have more prevalence of anemia and stunting in rural Mexico

Abstract

Objectiveto evaluate the relationship between household food security (FS) and the prevalence of anemia and stunting in poor children from rural Mexico.MethodsData were collected as part of a large survey conducted in small rural communities in 9 states in Mexico. A 14 item FS questionnaire was applied to 5,662 to mother of smaller children of 2 year for whom height and weight measurements were available. For the present analysis households were classified as food secure or food insecure and the relationship with anemia and stunting examined using logistic regression after adjustment for age.ResultsA total of 1,241 households (21.9%) were classified as food secure and 4,421 (78.1%) as food insecure. Prevalence of stunting and anemia were significantly different (p<0.001) in unadjusted analysis between children from food secure (stunting: 16.2%, anemia: 28.9%) and food insecure (stunting: 21.9%, anemia: 34.0%) households .After adjustment for age, children from insecure households were more likely be stunted (OR 1.43, 95%CI 1.21‐1.69, p<0.001) and anemic (OR 1.28, 95%CI 1.11‐1.47, p<0.001) than those from food secure household.ConclusionsWe found an association between household food insecurity and prevalence of stunting and anemia. In further analysis is necessary to explore other aspects of well‐being, health and education to the nutrition taken by Oportunidades program.