scholarly journals Neighborhood Food Insecurity Index to Identify Food Vulnerability and Food Deserts in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 148-159
Author(s):  
Sweta Tiwari ◽  
Shrinidhi Ambinakudige
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 772-773
Author(s):  
Rose Ann DiMaria-Ghalili ◽  
Connie Bales ◽  
Julie Locher

Abstract Food insecurity is an under-recognized geriatric syndrome that has extensive implications in the overall health and well-being of older adults. Understanding the impact of food insecurity in older adults is a first step in identifying at-risk populations and provides a framework for potential interventions in both hospital and community-based settings. This symposium will provide an overview of current prevalence rates of food insecurity using large population-based datasets. We will present a summary indicator that expands measurement to include the functional and social support limitations (e.g., community disability, social isolation, frailty, and being homebound), which disproportionately impact older adults, and in turn their rate and experience of food insecurity and inadequate food access. We will illustrate using an example of at-risk seniors the association between sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle mass and function, with rates of food security in the United States. The translational aspect of the symposium will then focus on identification of psychosocial and environmental risk factors including food insecurity in older veterans preparing for surgery within the Veterans Affairs Perioperative Optimization of Senior Health clinic. Gaining insights into the importance of food insecurity will lay the foundation for an intervention for food insecurity in the deep south. Our discussant will provide an overview of the implications of these results from a public health standpoint. By highlighting the importance of food insecurity, such data can potentially become a framework to allow policy makers to expand nutritional programs as a line of defense against hunger in this high-risk population.


Author(s):  
Heather Mechler ◽  
Kathryn Coakley ◽  
Marygold Walsh-Dilley ◽  
Sarita Cargas

In recent years, researchers have increasingly focused on the experience of food insecurity among students at higher education institutions. Most of the literature has focused on undergraduates in the eastern and midwestern regions of the United States. This cross-sectional study of undergraduate, graduate, and professional students at a Minority Institution in the southwestern United States is the first of its kind to explore food insecurity among diverse students that also includes data on gender identity and sexual orientation. When holding other factors constant, food-insecure students were far more likely to fail or withdraw from a course or to drop out entirely. We explore the role that higher education can play in ensuring students’ basic needs and implications for educational equity.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Jose Arenas ◽  
Sara Zhou ◽  
Arthur Thomas ◽  
Jici Wang ◽  
Gilberto Vila Arroyo ◽  
...  

Introduction: Social determinants of health, such as food security, are an important target for health providers, particularly in the care of patients from underserved populations, including the uninsured and socially marginalized. Preliminary research has shown that food insecurity status (FIS) is associated with negative health outcomes.Objective: We aim to present a concise, yet comprehensive resource that lists the health outcomes associated with FIS. This guide is meant to provide innovative health providers with the tools needed to justify the importance of using FIS screening and treatment as a preventive medicine intervention.Methods: We conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed manuscripts that studied FIS in the United States of America (USA) and at least one health outcome. We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus and had multiple reviewers examine each abstract and manuscript. We only retained peer-reviewed studies that contained USA data, directly measured FIS, and directly compared FIS to a health outcome.Results: The initial search yielded 1,817 manuscripts. After screening abstracts for duplicates and inclusion criteria, a total of 117 manuscripts were retained and fully examined. Several manuscripts showed significant association between FIS and neurologic, cardiac, endocrine, and pulmonary health outcomes. Studies in the USA population show robust associations between FIS and poor mental health (including depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, impaired cognitive functioning, and epilepsy), metabolic syndrome, hyperlipidemia, greater risk for bone fracture in children, higher risk of end-stage renal disease in patients with chronic kidney disease, self-reported poor health, and higher mortality in patients with the human immunodeficiency virus. Though other literature reviews show positive associations between FIS and health outcomes such as diabetes, body mass index, and hypertension, our systematic review showed mixed results.Conclusions: FIS leaves underserved populations at risk for negative health outcomes. More research should be done to examine the effects of FIS alleviation as a preventative medicine intervention.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Francis A. Tayie ◽  
Lea Anne Lambert ◽  
Richmond N. Aryeetey ◽  
Beibei Xu ◽  
Gabrielle Brewer

Abstract Objective: This study provides information on food insecurity and child malnutrition in a technologically advanced nation. Design: Population-based study using multistage probability cluster sampling design to collect survey data. Multivariable regression models were used to determine associations between food security status and various malnutrition indices. Setting: We used a national sample from the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011-2014. Participants: The anthropometric and demographic datasets of 4,121 children <7 years old were analyzed for this study. Results: Food insecure infants younger than 6 months had shorter upper arm length (−0.4 cm, p=0.012) and smaller mid-upper arm circumference (−0.5 cm, p=0.004), likewise those aged 6 months-1 year who had shorter upper arm length (−0.4 cm, p=0.008), body length (−1.7 cm, p=0.007) and lower body weight (−0.5 kg, p=0.008). Food insecure children younger than 2 years were more likely to be underweight (OR: 4.34; 95% CI: 1.99-9.46) compared to their food secure counterparts. Contrarywise, food insecure children older than 5 years were more likely to be obese (OR: 3.12; 95% CI: 1.23-7.96). Conclusion: Food insecurity associates with child growth deficits in the United States. Food insecure infants and young children are generally smaller and shorter, whereas older children are heavier than their food secure counterparts, implying a double burden of undernutrition-overnutrition associated with child food insecurity. Child food and nutrition programs to improve food insecurity should focus on infants and children in the transition ages.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 1126-1137
Author(s):  
Andrée-Anne Fafard St-Germain ◽  
Arjumand Siddiqi

ABSTRACT Household food insecurity is a determinant of health and marker of material deprivation. Although research has shown that food insecurity is associated with numerous adverse health, developmental and nutritional outcomes among children in high-income countries, little is known about its impact on children's height, an important marker of nutritional status and physical development. We reviewed evidence on the relation between experience-based measures of food insecurity and the height of children aged 0–18 y in Canada and the United States. The search, conducted in Embase, Medline, CINAHL, ProQuest, Web of Science, and EconLit from the inception of the databases to October 2017, identified 811 records that were screened for relevance. A total of 8 peer-reviewed studies, 2 from Canada and 6 from the United States, met the inclusion criteria and were summarized. Five studies found no association between food insecurity and children's height. One study found that having taller children in the household predicted more severe food insecurity, whereas 2 studies found that more severe experiences of food insecurity were associated with shorter height among children from ethnic minority populations. These results suggest that household food insecurity may not be associated with height inequalities among children in Canada and the United States, except perhaps in certain high-risk populations. However, the few studies identified for review provide insufficient evidence to determine whether food insecurity is or is not associated with children's height in these countries. Given the importance of optimal linear growth for current and future well-being, it is critical to understand how different modifiable environmental circumstances relate to children's height to help establish priorities for intervention. Families with children are disproportionately affected by food insecurity, and more research explicitly designed to examine the association between household food insecurity and children's height in high-income countries is needed.


Author(s):  
Maryah Stella Fram

This entry provides an overview of current knowledge and thinking about the nature, causes, and consequences of food insecurity as well as information about the major policies and programs aimed at alleviating food insecurity in the United States. Food insecurity is considered at the nexus of person and environment, with discussion focusing on the biological, psychological, social, and economic factors that are interwoven with people’s access to and utilization of food. The diversity of experiences of food insecurity is addressed, with attention to issues of age, gender, culture, and community context. Finally, implications for social work professionals are suggested.


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