Journal of Medical Internet Research - International Scientific Journal for Medical Research, Information and Communication on the Internet

Objective: To examine the causal directionality in the relationship between food insecurity and emotional well-being among US-based populations.Design: Systematic literature review from January 2006 to July 2016 using MEDLINE (PubMed), PsychInfo, Web of Science and CINHAL. Inclusion criteria were: written in English; examined a longitudinal association between food insecurity and emotional well-being.Setting: The USA.Subjects: Children and adults.Results: Twelve out of 4161 peer-reviewed articles met inclusion criteria. Three articles examined the effect of emotional well-being on food insecurity, five studies examined the effect of food insecurity on emotional well-being, and four studies examined a bidirectional relationship. Most studies (83 %) reported a positive relationship between negative emotional well-being and food insecurity over time.Conclusions: Findings suggest a bidirectional association whereby food insecurity increases the risk of poor emotional health, and poor emotional health increases the risk of food insecurity. Better-constructed studies are needed to follow cohorts at risk for both food insecurity and poor emotional health to further understand the mediators and moderators of the relationships. Intervention studies designed to mitigate or reverse risks are also needed to determine best evidence for practice and policy.

To examine longitudinal associations between food insecurity (FI) and health behaviors/outcomes among a diverse sample of university freshmen. Freshman students (n = 1138; 65% female; 49% non-white) participating in the Social impact of Physical Activity and nutRition in College study completed surveys on health behaviors and had height/weight measured up to 4 times (T1-T4) in Arizona during 2015–2016. Structural equation models were estimated to determine if, after adjusting for covariates, FI predicted concurrent behaviors/outcomes and subsequent behaviors/outcomes. Analyses reported here were conducted in 2017. The prevalence of FI was significantly higher at the end of each semester (35% and 36%, respectively) than at the start of the year (28%). Longitudinally, FI was not related to any health behaviors/outcomes at future time points. However, FI was significantly and inversely associated with concurrent breakfast consumption on most days of the week (OR = 0.67, 99% CI = 0.46, 0.99), daily evening meal consumption (OR = 0.55, 99% CI = 0.36, 0.86) healthy eating habits on campus (OR = 0.68, 99% CI = 0.46, 1.00), healthy physical activity habits on campus (OR = 0.66, 99% CI = 0.44, 1.00), and positively related to the likelihood of experiencing stress (OR = 1.69, 99% CI = 1.16, 2.46) and depressed mood (OR = 1.98, 99% CI = 1.34, 2.91). Compared with US prevalence rates, the sample FI prevalence was high. FI was related to poorer eating patterns, physical activity behaviors, and mental health, even after adjusting for prior levels of behavior.

Objectives. We assessed current levels of food insecurity among a large, diverse sample of parents and examined associations between food insecurity and parental weight status, eating patterns, and the home food environment. Methods. Project F-EAT (Families and Eating and Activity Among Teens) examined the home food environments of adolescents. Parents and caregivers (n = 2095) living with adolescents from the Minneapolis–St. Paul, Minnesota school districts completed mailed surveys during a 12-month period in 2009–2010. We performed our assessments using multivariate regressions. Results. Almost 39% of the parents and caregivers experienced household food insecurity, whereas 13% experienced very low food security. Food insecurity was significantly associated with poorer nutrition-related variables such as higher rates of parental overweight and obesity, less healthy foods served at meals, and higher rates of binge eating. Food-insecure parents were 2 to 4 times more likely to report barriers to accessing fruits and vegetables. Conclusions. Food insecurity was highly prevalent. Environmental interventions are needed to protect vulnerable families against food insecurity and to improve access to affordable, healthy foods.