Food Insecurity In Communities Research Articles

Context-Tailored Food-Based Nutrition Education and Counseling for Pregnant Women to Improve Birth Outcomes: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial in Rural Malawi

BackgroundInadequate maternal dietary intakes remain a public health challenge in low-income countries like Malawi and can cause adverse birth outcomes. ObjectivesTo improve maternal dietary intakes and thus reduce the prevalence of adverse birth outcomes in rural Malawi. MethodsWe performed a 2-armed (1:1) cluster-randomized controlled trial in Southern Malawi, enrolling pregnant women at gestational age 12–18 wk. Twenty villages (clusters) were randomly assigned to an intervention or a control group. A nutrition education and counseling (NEC) intervention consisted of education sessions followed by cooking demonstrations and counseling sessions. The women were encouraged to use locally available nutrient-dense foods to enhance dietary adequacy and -diversity. We applied linear programming to identify food combinations that could increase micronutrient intakes. The control group received standard antenatal health education. ResultsAmong the 311 women recruited, 187 (60%) completed the trial. We found no significant difference in mean birth weights recorded within 1 or 24 h of birth between the intervention and control groups. Intervention infants had greater birth length (P = 0.043) and abdominal circumference (P = 0.007) compared to controls, whereas other birth outcomes did not differ significantly. Notably, a quantile analysis revealed that the NEC intervention favored birth weight among mothers with a height below the mean height of the participant sample (156 cm) (P-interaction = 0.043). ConclusionsTailoring NEC in food-insecure communities did not result in a significant difference in birth weight among infants of the participating mothers, but mean birth length and abdominal circumference were greater in the intervention group compared to controls. We noted that the NEC intervention favored birth weight among mothers with a lower height than the mean sample height. Our results warrant further investigation into offering tailored NEC early in pregnancy and on a larger scale.This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03136393.

Improving community resilience to disrupted food access: Empirical spatio-temporal analysis of volunteer-based crowdsourced food delivery

Unplanned disaster events can greatly disrupt access to essential resources, with calamitous outcomes for already vulnerable households. This is particularly challenging when concurrent extreme events affect both the ability of households to travel and the functioning of traditional transportation networks that supply resources. This paper examines the use of volunteer-based crowdsourced food delivery as a community resilience tactic to improve food accessibility during overlapping disruptions with lasting effects, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate disasters. The study uses large-scale spatio-temporal data (n = 28,512) on crowdsourced food deliveries in Houston, TX, spanning from 2020 through 2022, merged with data on community demographics and significant disruptive events occurring in the two-year timespan. Three research lenses are applied to understand the effectiveness of crowdsourced food delivery programs for food access recovery: 1) geographic analysis illustrates hot spots of demand and impacts of disasters on requests for food assistance within the study area; 2) linear spatio-temporal modeling identifies a distinction between shelter-in-place emergencies and evacuation emergencies regarding demand for food assistance; 3) structural equation modeling identifies socially vulnerable identity clusters that impact requests for food assistance. The findings from the study suggest that volunteer-based crowdsourced food delivery adds to the resilience of food insecure communities, supporting its effectiveness in serving its intended populations. The paper contributes to the literature by illustrating how resilience is a function of time and space, and that similarly, there is value in a dynamic representation of community vulnerability. The results point to a new approach to resource recovery following disaster events by shifting the burden of transportation from resource-seekers and traditional transportation systems to home delivery by a crowdsourced volunteer network.

Wet markets in Southeast Asia and access to healthy diets

Hunger and malnutrition in all forms continues to rise in Africa and Asia. Urban and rural communities’ diets in Southeast Asia (SEA) are increasingly unhealthy, with consumption influenced by affordability and convenience. The cost of a healthy diet is a major barrier to accessing healthy foods in SEA. Wet markets are key places in food environments where people buy and sell a variety of foods. They are especially important for food and nutrition insecure communities. This mini narrative review explores the role that wet markets, in SEA food environments, play in providing local communities with access to healthy foods. Fourteen peer-review papers, published in English between 2017 and 2022, were identified during screening and analysed according to six food environment domains. Findings highlight that convenient access to wet markets facilitates access to fruits and vegetables in peri urban and urban areas. Fresh foods, most notably fruits, were viewed as being more expensive than processed foods which in turn influenced purchasing behavior. Divergent findings were presented in the identified papers regarding affordability of food in wet markets. Concerns about food quality and the use of chemicals and pesticides were raised. This review was constrained by several factors including the lack of consistent and meaningful definitions and typologies of the varied forms of wet markets. Looking ahead, better defined interpretations of wet markets can enhance the development and refinement of appropriate policies and actions and comparison of wet markets, in respect of access to diverse, healthy foods, vendor practices and consumer food choices.

Paternal Participation in Optimal Infant and Young Child Feeding Practice and Associated Factors: A Community-Based Analytical Cross-Sectional Study from Chronically Food-Insecure Communities, Ethiopia

Evidence shows that paternal participation helps to improve the utilization of optimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices. However, little has been known about chronically food-insecure (CFI) communities. The aim of this study to assess paternal participation in optimal IYCF practice and associated factors in the Dodota district of the Arsi zone, Ethiopia, 2022. A community-based cross-sectional study involving 1152 fathers was conducted after ethical clearance was obtained. Measures of optimal IYCF are based on criteria established by the World Health Organization. We analyzed the data using bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models. Results indicated that paternal participation in optimal IYCF practice was 26.2%. The percentages of early initiation of breastfeeding (EIBF), exclusive breastfeeding (EBF), and minimum acceptable diet (MAD) were respectively 72.9%, 66.1%, and 37.3%. Paternal knowledge of IYCF (AOR:3.2, P <0.01), education (AOR:2.1, P<0.05), income (AOR:1.8, P<0.05), child's age (AOR 1.7, P<0.05), and the number of children (AOR:2.1, P<0.05) were the predictors of the outcome. Large-scale, in-depth studies should be required to justify the result unequivocally.

LANDSCAPE IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF SDG2 DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS USING REMOTE SENSING AND UNSUPERVISED CONTROL SITE SELECTION

Abstract. As part of its objective to achieve Zero Hunger under SDG2 the United Nations World Food Programme, in partnership with Governments, NGOs and other UN agencies, supports food insecure communities to increase natural resource availability and improve their management. This is done mostly through the building and rehabilitation of soil and water conservation assets (e.g., small dams, weirs, landscape restoration) and structures that increase productivity (e.g., vegetable gardens, irrigation canals). To adequately monitor these activities around the globe simultaneously, remote sensing was found to be an adequate tool. This study introduces the use of high-resolution satellite imagery, and more specifically NDVI derived from the Landsat series to verify and quantify the impact of such development projects. In total 121 projects in 10 countries and six different climate zones were analyzed using a pre- and post-implementation comparison and a Before-After Control Impact (BACI) study considering randomly selected control sites. Both approaches were found to show robust results throughout the different countries, project types and climate zones. 67% of all projects showed significant improvements in vegetation conditions during the wet seasons only three years after the implementation. Using the proposed workflow based on Python scripting and cloud computing of satellite data, fast and robust analyses can be achieved, while assuring constant data quality.

The FINDING-Food Intervention: A Mixed-Methods Feasibility Study Addressing Food Insecurity

Food insecurity is an economic and social condition involving limited or uncertain access to food. The problem of food insecurity in communities is influenced by economic conditions, food deserts, and barriers to accessing healthy food. Individuals experiencing food insecurity often endure concurrent problems of financial instability, hunger, and poor mental and physical health. Public and non-profit services in the U.S., such as the federally supported Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and community food banks, provide food-related assistance to individuals who are at a high risk of experiencing food insecurity. Unfortunately, many individuals who qualify for these services still experience food insecurity due to barriers preventing them from accessing food. Effective approaches for removing barriers that prevent individuals from accessing food are needed to mitigate the increased risk of chronic disease among vulnerable populations. This study tested a novel food insecurity intervention called FINDING-Food, which stands for Frequent Informational Nudges Directing Individuals to Needed Goods. Informational nudges were used to promote food security through the removal of information barriers to accessing food. The intervention used in this mixed-methods feasibility study consisted of informational nudges in the form of weekly text messages that were sent to food pantry clients experiencing food insecurity (n = 24). The study aims were to test the efficacy and acceptability of the intervention by examining whether the informational nudges could enhance food pantry utilization, increase SNAP registration, and promote food security. Quantitative study results showed a lower prevalence of food insecurity in the intervention group than the control group at the end of the study. Qualitative findings revealed how intervention group participants who completed the study (n = 9) found the text messages to be helpful and informative. These study findings can enhance future food insecurity interventions aiming to eliminate barriers that prevent individuals who are food insecure from accessing healthy food.

Community food insecurity and role of agriculture extension in rural development

Availability of food on a sustainable basis throughout the year is of prime importance in a country. The part of agricultural extension in the maintainable progress of rural areas has not been completely utilized to understand sustainable rural societies. An operative extension scheme of any country plays a highly significant role in the growing procedure. Nevertheless, a lot of criticism is being done in Pakistan for not resulting in remarkable improvement crop yield and wanted constructive changes in the rural earnings. Innovative enterprises in the form of dissolution and distribution; contributing methods to extension, and the usage of novel info and communication skills have been engaged to increase the competence and efficiency of the facility. An extension organization that could encourage supportable farming and solve community growth problems like food security is in utmost necessity.

1183-P: Association of Community-Level Social Determinants of Health and Pregestational and Gestational Diabetes

Objective: To determine whether community-level adverse social determinants of health are associated with increased risk of pregestational and gestational diabetes (DM, GDM). Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis from the prospective cohort Nulliparous Pregnancy Outcomes Study: Monitoring Mothers-To-Be. We evaluated three community-level exposures using home addresses geocoded at the census-tract level: 1) socioeconomic disadvantage by 2015 Area Deprivation Index (ADI); 2) food insecurity by USDA Food Access Research Atlas; and 3) walkability by EPA National Walkability Score. The outcomes were DM and GDM. Results: Of 9,155 assessed individuals, 33.6% were in the highest tertile (T3) of ADI, 24.4% lived in a food-insecure community, and 33.7% lived in a less walkable neighborhood; 1.5% (n=137) had DM and 4.2% (n=380) developed GDM. Individuals living in a community in the highest tertile of ADI were more likely to have DM (aOR: 2.49; 95% CI: 1.48, 4.18) and GDM (aOR: 1.49; 95% CI: 1.13, 1.97). Individuals living in a food-insecure community (aOR: 1.49; 95% CI: 1.17, 1.89) and living in a less walkable neighborhood (aOR: 1.29; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.62) were more likely to have GDM, but not DM. Conclusions: Multiple measures of community-level adverse social determinants of health were associated with an increased risk of developing GDM. Only socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with DM. Disclosure C.P.Field: None. W.Grobman: None. J.Wu: None. C.Lynch: None. K.K.Venkatesh: None. Funding Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Review of the Underutilized Indigenous Portulacaria afra (Spekboom) as a Sustainable Edible Food Source

Southern Africa faces numerous challenges, such as increasing biodiversity loss and environmental degradation. Additionally, poor and vulnerable communities suffer from undernourishment and are food insecure. Therefore, Southern Africa must adopt inclusive, sustainable food systems that support food security, even under harsh climatic conditions. Wild edible plants can potentially strengthen South African communities’ diets, as they are nutritious, freely available and adapted to survive in marginal conditions. Portulacaria afra, colloquially known as spekboom, is an indigenous succulent to South Africa. This edible plant is resilient even when exposed to weather extremes and is exceptionally easy to grow. Spekboom can potentially contribute to food security since food-insecure communities can access the plant in a socially acceptable way. However, spekboom awaits culinary development to increase its consumption. This review presents the current knowledge of spekboom. As there is limited published research, the review aims to stimulate research in food science and nutrition on this undervalued plant and introduce it as a new food and ingredient.

An integrated approach to address diabetes in the context of food insecurity: Delivering health study protocol

BackgroundDiabetes self-management education and support (DSMES) interventions among food insecure individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D) have found modest improvements in nutrition and health outcomes but are limited by barriers to attendance and retention. This study applies a community-based participatory research approach, engaging community members at all levels of intervention planning, development, implementation, and dissemination, to deliver a plain-language DSMES curriculum to food insecure community members with T2D. MethodsThis is a single-arm, pre-post design assessing the efficacy of a 12-week home-delivered DSMES curriculum and T2D-appropriate food box intervention to improve the nutrition and health outcomes of food insecure individuals with T2D. The intervention consists of a weekly food box delivery and handout with video links on key DSMES topics, developed and refined using community advisor feedback. Up to 100 English-, Spanish-, or Marshallese-speaking adult participants with T2D (HbA1c ≥ 7%) and food insecurity are being recruited from food pantries in northwest Arkansas. Data is collected at pre-intervention and immediately post-intervention. The primary study outcome is change in HbA1c. Secondary measures include diet quality (Healthy Eating Index-2015, calculated from 3 24-h dietary recall interviews via phone), body mass index, blood pressure, skin carotenoids, food security, T2D self-management behaviors, T2D self-efficacy, and T2D-related distress. ResultsRecruitment began in August 2021 and enrollment is anticipated to be complete in March 2023. ConclusionFindings from this study will provide a rich understanding of diabetes-related health outcomes and dietary patterns of individuals with food insecurity and T2D and inform future food-focused DSMES interventions in this setting.

Addressing food insecurity and chronic conditions in community health centres: protocol of a quasi-experimental evaluation of Recipe4Health

IntroductionChronic conditions, such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease and depression, are highly prevalent and frequently co-occur with food insecurity in communities served by community health centres in the USA. Community...

Empowering Community Leadership: Perspectives of Peer Mentors Facilitating a Food Pantry-Based Nutrition Education Program.

Peer Mentors (PMs) are valuable health educators within food-insecure communities; however, little is known about PMs' perspectives and experiences after serving in their peer mentor role. Therefore, this qualitative study explored PMs' (n = 10) perceptions and analyzed data using thematic analysis based on descriptive phenomenology. Four themes emerged: (1) Successes and Struggles in Sharing Nutrition Knowledge; (2) Establishing a Conducive Learning Environment; (3) The Peer Mentor and Mentee Connection: Impact of Shared Experiences; (4) Empowerment of the Peer Mentor Experience. PMs have many advantages; however, more research is needed to evaluate the sustainability and efficacy of PMs within food-insecure communities.

Erratum to Community Food Insecurity Predicts Child Maltreatment Report Rates across Illinois Zip Codes, 2011-2018

Erratum to Community Food Insecurity Predicts Child Maltreatment Report Rates across Illinois Zip Codes, 2011-2018

Collaborating to reduce food waste: building collaborative advantage in local food systems

Abstract Food loss and waste throughout the food supply chain is a growing issue with significant economic, social and environmental implications. Wasted food represents lost profits for the food industry, increased food insecurity in communities and the unnecessary production of greenhouse gas emissions, among many other detrimental consequences. Due to the large number of stakeholders involved in the food supply chain and the complexity of their relationships, there is increasing interest in addressing food waste issues through collaborative governance approaches, such as food policy councils (FPCs). Assessing how FPCs engage diverse stakeholders and organizations in food waste reduction efforts can provide important lessons for improving local food systems governance more broadly and contribute to the creation of more sustainable food systems. To do this, we leverage the theoretical concept of ‘collaborative advantage’ to analyze how FPCs foster collaboration, both internally and with external partners, to achieve policy and programmatic goals that individual stakeholders could not achieve alone. Drawing on plan documents and semi-structured interviews with members of five FPCs across the USA, we find that FPCs can foster collaborative advantage by establishing comprehensive food system plans, systematically measuring progress toward objectives, and transparently communicating the evidence of their progress to the communities they serve.

Public perceptions of local food environments in shrinking cities: Weighing solutions to community food insecurity in Camden, New Jersey

Historically, the shrinking city of Camden, New Jersey has experienced a wide range of issues related to social, environmental, and nutritional injustice. This study focuses on two of the city’s most at-risk neighborhoods, Waterfront South and Bergen Square, and examines residents’ perceptions of their local food environments, food insecurity, and proposed solutions, including a potential online grocery delivery service. Many participants across our four methods indicated significant levels of food insecurity, often citing their neighborhoods’ dependence on unhealthy corner stores, lack of full-service grocery retailers, and lack of connection to local food initiatives in other neighborhoods. Responses from our focus group participants generated three dominant themes for potential solutions: (i) attracting new and improving existing grocery retailers in the study area; (ii) increasing education about and participation in local food production; and (iii) fostering collaboration among the city’s diverse stakeholders to develop unified food security initiatives. Focus group participants and stakeholder interviewees expressed mixed opinions about a new online grocery delivery service, with some emphasizing its potential convenience and a majority expressing concerns about product quality and equitable access to the service.

THE IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS OF AN INTERGENERATIONAL COMMUNITY RESEARCH PROJECT: A NARRATIVE REVIEW

Abstract Food for a Long Life (FFLL) was a five-year USDA Children, Youth and Families at Risk intergenerational community research project that sought to increase healthy food consumption, knowledge, and access among preschoolers and older adults living in food insecure communities of Ohio and Virginia. Using the community-based participatory action research approach, community stakeholders jointly participated in all stages of the project to co-create context-specific programming to address needs within their communities with the goal of promoting program sustainability beyond the grant funding period. This presentation will provide a narrative review to explore the implementation process of FFLL by comparing initial project expectations to reality using the community-based participatory research conceptual model (Wallerstein et al., 2008; Wallerstein et al., 2018). By exploring project barriers such as COVID-19, facilitators such as flexible partner relationships, and strategies including promoting early buy-in, we provide an in-depth discussion of project successes and lessons learned.

Association of community-level food insecurity and glycemic control among pregnant individuals with pregestational diabetes

AimTo evaluate whether pregnant individuals with pregestational diabetes who live in a food-insecure community have worse glycemic control compared to those who do not live in a food-insecure community. MethodsA retrospective analysis of pregnant individuals with pregestational diabetes enrolled in a multidisciplinary prenatal and diabetes care program. The exposure was community-level food insecurity per the Food Access Research Atlas. The outcomes were hemoglobin A1c (A1c) < 6.0 % in early and late pregnancy, and an absolute decrease in A1c ≥ 2.0 % and mean change in A1c across pregnancy. ResultsAmong 418 assessed pregnant individuals with pregestational diabetes, those living in a food-insecure community were less likely to have an A1c < 6.0 % in early pregnancy compared to those living in a community without food insecurity [16 % vs. 30 %; adjusted risk ratio (aRR): 0.55; 95 % CI: 0.33–0.92]. Individuals living in a food-insecure community were more likely to achieve a decrease in A1c ≥ 2.0 % [35 % vs. 21 %; aRR: 1.55; 95 % CI: 1.06–2.28] and a larger mean decrease in A1c across pregnancy [mean: 1.46 vs. 1.00; adjusted beta: 0.47; 95 % CI: 0.06–0.87)]. ConclusionsPregnant individuals with pregestational diabetes who lived in a food-insecure community were less likely to enter pregnancy with glycemic control, but were more likely to have a reduction in A1c and achieve similar A1c status compared to those who lived in a community without food insecurity. Whether interventions that address food insecurity improve glycemic control and consequent perinatal outcomes remains to be studied.

Acceptability of alternative ready-to-use therapeutic foods in acute malnutrition management—a systematic review

“Commercial” Ready-To-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTFs) are used in acute malnutrition management, but they are not always appropriate being expensive and unfamiliar. Much research has tried to develop alternative RUTF formulations and this work systematically reviewed eight articles discussing the approaches used to assess the children’s sensory satisfaction, families’ acceptance, and the cultural appropriateness of 13 alternative RUTFs. Different approaches were used by the authors and much research to standardise methodologies and findings is urgent to ensure that food products are culturally appropriate, acceptable and appreciated, with the final aim of completing the development process of alternative RUTFs. This work proposed some indications to follow in alternative RUTF acceptability evaluation processing. Moreover, community engagement and education resulted key aspects in alternative RUTF acceptance. An innovative, multi-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder approach could develop alternative “fit-for-the-purpose” RUTFs to help food-insecure communities acquire sufficient, safe, nutritious food in long-term Community Management of Acute Malnutrition.

Evaluation of a sustainable student-led initiative on a college campus addressing food waste and food insecurity

Food waste and food insecurity present a troubling paradox found across the globe, in local communi­ties, and on college campuses. The Campus Kitch­en at the University of Kentucky (CK) is a student-led, sustainability-focused service organiza­tion in the Feeding America Network that can serve as a local food waste checkpoint in the south­east region of the United States and address com­munity and campus food insecurity through com­munity-build­ing activities. Farm-to-Fork (F2F), a free weekly meal and education program of CK, provides a case study of leveraging existing resources like student volunteers, CK infrastruc­ture, and campus partners to address college food insecurity. In this case study, we evaluate the pilot model of CK and its F2F Program. The data gath­ered consist of the amount of food recovered, the number of meals prepared and distributed, and demographics and behavioral perceptions of col­lege students attend­ing F2F. From August 2018 to December 2019, CK food recovery and meal data were collected and an F2F cross-sectional student survey (N=284) was administered twice. The pro­gram develop­ment, implementation, and evaluation of F2F relies on the social -ecological model (SEM) to capture and highlight the complicated issues of food waste and food insecurity, and the layered approach any initiative addressing such issues must take. Ulti­mately, F2F highlights how programs such as CK can expand their missions of reducing food waste and food insecurity in communities and on college campuses. CK’s economically and envi­ronmentally sustainable practices can be built upon to improve the diversion of food waste and use socially inclu­sive approaches to provide healthy meals and resources to populations experiencing challenges with food insecurity, both on and off campus, as well as educate all those involved. In turn, such an initiative highlights the need to move beyond stopgap measures, such as food pantries, in both community and campus programs targeting food waste and food insecurity.

Mapping EBT Store Closures During the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Low-Income, Food-Insecure Community in San Diego.

Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD) is a peer-reviewed electronic journal established by the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. PCD provides an open exchange of information and knowledge among researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and others who strive to improve the health of the public through chronic disease prevention.