Chronic Physical and Mental Health Conditions among Adults May Increase Vulnerability to Household Food Insecurity
Reads0
Chats0
TLDR
Among food-insecure households, adults with multiple chronic conditions had higher odds of severe household food insecurity than adults with no chronic condition and appropriate chronic disease management may reduce the prevalence and severity of food insecurity.Abstract:
Analyses of cross-sectional population survey data in Canada and the United States have indicated that household food insecurity is associated with poorer self-rated health and multiple chronic conditions. The causal inference has been that household food insecurity contributes to poorer health, but there has been little consideration of how adults' health status may relate to households' vulnerability to food insecurity. Our objectives were to examine how the presence of an adult with one or more chronic physical or mental health conditions affects the odds of a household being food insecure and how the chronic ill-health of an adult within a food-insecure household affects the severity of that household's food insecurity. Using household- and respondent-level data available for 77,053 adults aged 18-64 y from the 2007-2008 Canadian Community Health Survey, we applied logistic regression analyses, controlling for household sociodemographic characteristics, to examine the association between health and household food insecurity. Most chronic conditions increased the odds of household food insecurity independent of household sociodemographic characteristics. Compared with adults with no chronic condition, the odds of household food insecurity were 1.43 (95% CI: 1.28, 1.59), 1.86 (95% CI: 1.62, 2.14), and 3.44 (95% CI: 3.02, 3.93) for adults with 1, 2, and 3 or more chronic conditions, respectively. Among food-insecure households, adults with multiple chronic conditions had higher odds of severe household food insecurity than adults with no chronic condition. The chronic ill-health of adults may render their households more vulnerable to food insecurity. This has important practice implications for health professionals who can identify and assist those at risk, but it also suggests that appropriate chronic disease management may reduce the prevalence and severity of food insecurity.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Association between household food insecurity and annual health care costs
TL;DR: Household food insecurity was a robust predictor of health care utilization and costs incurred by working-age adults, independent of other social determinants of health.
Journal ArticleDOI
Food insecurity and mental health: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Ali Pourmotabbed,Sajjad Moradi,Atefeh Babaei,Abed Ghavami,Hamed Mohammadi,Cyrus Jalili,Michael E. Symonds,Maryam Miraghajani +7 more
TL;DR: The evidence from this meta-analysis suggests that FI has a significant effect on the likelihood of being stressed or depressed, and indicates that health care services, which alleviate FI, would also promote holistic well-being in adults.
Journal ArticleDOI
Food Insecurity and Mental Health among Females in High-Income Countries.
Merryn Maynard,Lesley Andrade,Sara Packull-McCormick,Christopher M. Perlman,Cesar Leos-Toro,Sharon I. Kirkpatrick +5 more
TL;DR: A link between food insecurity and mental health (and other factors, such as housing circumstances and exposure to violence) among women in high-income countries and underscores the need for comprehensive policies and programs that recognize complex links among public health challenges are supported.
Journal ArticleDOI
How COVID-19 has exposed inequalities in the UK food system: The case of UK food and poverty
Abstract: This article draws upon our perspective as academic-practitioners working in the fields of food insecurity, food systems, and inequality to comment, in the early stages of the pandemic and associated lockdown, on the empirical and ethical implications of COVID-19 for socio-economic inequalities in access to food in the UK. The COVID-19 pandemic has sharpened the profound insecurity of large segments of the UK population, an insecurity itself the product of a decade of ‘austerity’ policies. Increased unemployment, reduced hours, and enforced self-isolation for multiple vulnerable groups is likely to lead to an increase in UK food insecurity, exacerbating diet-related health inequalities. The social and economic crisis associated with the pandemic has exposed the fragility of the system of food charity which, at present, is a key response to growing poverty. A vulnerable food system, with just-in-time supply chains, has been challenged by stockpiling. Resultant food supply issues at food banks, alongside rapidly increasing demand and reduced volunteer numbers, has undermined many food charities, especially independent food banks. In the light of this analysis, we make a series of recommendations. We call for an immediate end to the five week wait for Universal Credit and cash grants for low income households. We ask central and local government to recognise that many food aid providers are already at capacity and unable to adopt additional responsibilities. The government’s - significant - response to the economic crisis associated with COVID-19 has underscored a key principle: it is the government’s responsibility to protect population health, to guarantee household incomes, and to safeguard the economy. Millions of households were in poverty before the pandemic, and millions more will be so unless the government continues to protect household incomes through policy change.
Journal ArticleDOI
Food insecurity and mental illness: disproportionate impacts in the context of perceived stress and social isolation
TL;DR: Individuals reporting food insecurity are at increased risk of mental illness, which is further exacerbated in high stress and socially isolated environments.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Exploration of the Relationship Between Household Food Insecurity and Diabetes in Canada
TL;DR: Household food insecurity prevalence is higher among Canadians with diabetes and is associated with an increased likelihood of unhealthy behaviors, psychological distress, and poorer physical health.
Journal ArticleDOI
Housing Circumstances are Associated with Household Food Access among Low-Income Urban Families
TL;DR: Questions about housing affordability norms are raised and the need for a review of housing interventions to ensure that they enable families to maintain adequate housing and obtain their other basic needs is highlighted.
Journal ArticleDOI
Depression and suicide ideation in late adolescence and early adulthood are an outcome of child hunger
TL;DR: Child hunger appears to be a modifiable risk factor for depression and related suicide ideation in late adolescence and early adulthood, therefore prevention through the detection of such children and remedy of their circumstances may be an avenue to improve adult mental health.
Journal ArticleDOI
An examination of at-home food preparation activity among low-income, food-insecure women.
TL;DR: Both the frequency and complexity of at-home food preparation were positively related to women's energy and nutrient intakes and their consumption of fruits and vegetables, grain products, and meat and alternates, indicating the need for nutrition professionals to become effective advocates for policy reforms to lessen economic constraints on poor households.
Journal Article
Child hunger in Canada: results of the 1994 National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth
TL;DR: Single-parent families, families relying on social assistance and off-reserve Aboriginal families were overrepresented among those experiencing hunger, and Physicians may wish to use these demographic characteristics to identify and assist families with children potentially at risk for hunger.