Home Food Safety Practice and Household Food Insecurity: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Author(s):  
Fatemeh ESFARJANI ◽  
Hedayat HOSSEINI ◽  
Ramin KHAKSAR ◽  
Roshanak ROUSTAEE ◽  
Haleh ALIKHANIAN ◽  
...  

Background: Food safety and food security are interrelated concepts with a profound impact on the quality of human life. The current study, for the first time, was set to identify associations between home food safety practice and household food insecurity a structural equation modeling approach. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, urban households were selected from among 10 health centers of five districts of Tehran, Iran (2015). The following questionnaires were completed: socioeconomic status (SES), food security and food safety. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was applied for predicting the relationships between SES, food insecurity, and food safety in households. Results: Food security was observed in 56% of households. Mild, moderate and severe food-insecure households were determined to be 29%, 12%, and 3%, respectively. In addition, the scores of home food safety practice in 37.5%, 33% and 29.5% of the households were classified as desirable, acceptable and weak, respectively. Low-educated mothers having husbands with low educational and occupational level had a weaker food safety practice compared to high-educated ones. Based on the SEM results, an inverse association between food safety practice and food insecurity score was observed (t= -2.89, ɣ= 0.16). Conclusion: Food insecurity and undesirable food safety practice were relatively prevalent among households. In addition, the economic and social factors could inversely affect both food insecurity and food safety practices.

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Esfarjani ◽  
Fatemeh Mohammadi‐Nasrabadi ◽  
Ramin Khaksar ◽  
Roshanak Roustaee ◽  
Haleh Alikhanian ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-90
Author(s):  
Jéssica Pedroso ◽  
Fernando José Herkrath ◽  
Gabriela Buccini ◽  
Sonia Isoyama Venancio ◽  
Rafael Pérez-Escamilla ◽  
...  

Background: Optimal early child development (ECD) is fundamental for every child to achieve their developmental potential and thrive. Household food insecurity (HFI) is a risk factor for suboptimal development, but there is still a need to better understand the pathways that explain this relationship. Objective: To evaluate whether maternal mental health and infant’s diet mediate the association between HFI and ECD using structural equation modeling. Methods: Cross-sectional study with 474 mother–infant dyads. Mothers answered a questionnaire that evaluated variables through validated instruments. Structural equation modeling analyses were conducted to obtain standardized effects (β) and bias-corrected 95% CI, enabling comparisons between the magnitude of the effects. The following observed variables were included: HFI, ECD, consumption of a healthy and diverse diet, the presence of a partner in the household, wanted pregnancy, and current breastfeeding. Latent variables were included to evaluate mental health, poverty, and neonatal health. Results: Poor maternal mental health mediated the relationship between HFI and ECD (β = −.05), but a healthy and diverse diet was not a mediator in this relationship. Poverty was related to lower development scores directly (β = .21) and indirectly (β = .02). Not having a partner (β = .05) and having an unwanted pregnancy (β = .02) predicted indirectly lower development scores. Conclusions: Poor maternal mental health mediates the relationship between HFI and ECD, and ECD is influenced by poverty, single motherhood, and unwanted pregnancy through different pathways. Therefore, public policies and interventions that aim to promote an optimal ECD should also approach these aspects.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 01-10
Author(s):  
Ahmed Abdurahman

Background: Consuming scarce and poorly diversified diet, along with inadequate breastfeeding, contribute seriously to the complete scope of child undernutrition like stunting, wasting, underweight and micronutrient deficiency. Objective: To determine the association between dietary diversity score (DDS) and nutritional status among children aged 24 to 59 months in Haromaya district, Ethiopia. Methods: Children aged 24-59 months (N= 453) were enrolled in this cross-sectional study with a representative sample of households selected by a multistage sampling procedure in Haromaya district. Anthropometry and 24hr dietary recall were administered. Multinomial logistic regression models were applied to select variables that are candidate for multivariable model. Structural equation modeling was applied to test the mediatory effect of DDS on the relationship between household food insecurity (HFI) and child nutritional status. Results: The mean DDS was 3.62 (SD 1.09), and 50% of the children indicated poor and average DDS with only 20% children in very good DDS. By logistic regression analysis and after adjusting for the confounding factors, poor DDS was highly significant predictor of wasting, stunting and underweight (AOR = 4.09, C.I = 1.31 - 12.76, p = .01), (AOR = 2.28, C.I = 1.11 - 4.69, p = .03) and (AOR = 2.48, C.I = 1.17 - 5.24, p = .02) respectively. HFI had a significant direct effect on wasting though no significant indirect effect on wasting through mediation variable, DDS, (β1 reduced from 0.06 (S.E. = 0.027, p < .05) to 0.05 (S.E. = 0.028, p > .05). Conclusion: Poor DDS was a predictor of wasting, stunting and underweight. Additionally, DDS had a role in the association between HFI and nutritional status.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 01-10
Author(s):  
Ahmed Abdurahman

Background: Consuming scarce and poorly diversified diet, along with inadequate breastfeeding, contribute seriously to the complete scope of child undernutrition like stunting, wasting, underweight and micronutrient deficiency. Objective: To determine the association between dietary diversity score (DDS) and nutritional status among children aged 24 to 59 months in Haromaya district, Ethiopia. Methods: Children aged 24-59 months (N= 453) were enrolled in this cross-sectional study with a representative sample of households selected by a multistage sampling procedure in Haromaya district. Anthropometry and 24hr dietary recall were administered. Multinomial logistic regression models were applied to select variables that are candidate for multivariable model. Structural equation modeling was applied to test the mediatory effect of DDS on the relationship between household food insecurity (HFI) and child nutritional status. Results: The mean DDS was 3.62 (SD 1.09), and 50% of the children indicated poor and average DDS with only 20% children in very good DDS. By logistic regression analysis and after adjusting for the confounding factors, poor DDS was highly significant predictor of wasting, stunting and underweight (AOR = 4.09, C.I = 1.31 - 12.76, p = .01), (AOR = 2.28, C.I = 1.11 - 4.69, p = .03) and (AOR = 2.48, C.I = 1.17 - 5.24, p = .02) respectively. HFI had a significant direct effect on wasting though no significant indirect effect on wasting through mediation variable, DDS, (β1 reduced from 0.06 (S.E. = 0.027, p < .05) to 0.05 (S.E. = 0.028, p > .05). Conclusion: Poor DDS was a predictor of wasting, stunting and underweight. Additionally, DDS had a role in the association between HFI and nutritional status.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. e0259139
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Opiyo Onyango ◽  
Jonathan Crush ◽  
Samuel Owuor

An understanding of the types of shocks that disrupt and negatively impact urban household food security is of critical importance to develop relevant and targeted food security emergency preparedness policies and responses, a fact magnified by the current COVID-19 pandemic. This gap is addressed by the current study which draws from the Hungry Cities Partnership (HCP) city-wide household food insecurity survey of Nairobi city in Kenya. It uses both descriptive statistics and multilevel modelling using General Linear Mixed Models (GLMM) to examine the relationship between household food security and 16 different shocks experienced in the six months prior to the administration of the survey. The findings showed that only 29% of surveyed households were completely food secure. Of those experiencing some level of food insecurity, more experienced economic (55%) than sociopolitical (16%) and biophysical (10%) shocks. Economic shocks such as food price increases, loss of employment, and reduced income were all associated with increased food insecurity. Coupled with the lack of functioning social safety nets in Nairobi, households experiencing shocks and emergencies experience serious food insecurity and related health effects. In this context, the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have a major negative economic impact on many vulnerable urban households. As such, there is need for new policies on urban food emergencies with a clear emergency preparedness plan for responding to major economic and other shocks that target the most vulnerable.


Author(s):  
Seo-Hee Park ◽  
Byung-Jin Park ◽  
Dong-Hyuk Jung ◽  
Yu-Jin Kwon

Household food insecurity has been associated with noncommunicable diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between household food insecurity and asthma in Korean adults. Household food security statuses were classified into three groups: Food-secure household, food-insecure household without hunger, and food-insecure household with hunger. The odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the presence of asthma according to household food security status were calculated using multiple logistic regression analyses after adjusting for confounding factors. A total of 14,770 participants were included in the analysis. The prevalence of asthma was 2.6% in those with a secure food status, 3.2% in those with an insecure food status without hunger, and 7.6% in those with an insecure food status with hunger (p < 0.001). Compared with that in participants with a household food secure status, the odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for asthma were 1.12 (0.73–1.73) in those with a food-insecure household without hunger status and 2.44 (1.33–4.46) in those with a food-insecure household with hunger status after additionally adjusting for confounding factors. We found that household food insecurity with hunger was significantly associated with asthma prevalence in Korean adults. Implementation of household food security screening and public health intervention could be helpful to prevent and reduce asthma in adults.


Food Security ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cascade Tuholske ◽  
Kwaw Andam ◽  
Jordan Blekking ◽  
Tom Evans ◽  
Kelly Caylor

AbstractThe urban population in Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to expand by nearly 800 million people in the next 30 years. How this rapid urban transition is affecting household-level urban food security, and reverberating into broader food systems, is poorly understood. To fill this gap, we use data from a 2017 survey (n = 668) of low- and middle-income residents of Accra, Ghana, to characterize and compare the predictors of household-level food security using three established metrics: the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS); the Household Food Insecurity Access Prevalence (HFIAP); and the Food Consumption Score (FCS). According to HFIAP, 70% of sampled households are food insecure, but only 2% fall below acceptable thresholds measured by FCS. Only one household reported sourcing food from modern supermarkets and fewer than 3% produce food for consumption through gardening, farming, or fishing. Instead, households rely on purchased food from traditional markets, local stalls and kiosks, and street hawkers. Results from a suite of general linear models show that household assets, education, and demographic characteristics are significantly associated with food security outcomes according to HFIAS and HFIAP. The poor correlation and weak model agreement between dietary recall such as FCS, and experience-based food security metrics, like HFIAS and HFIAP, highlight limitations of employing historically rural-centric food security measurement approaches within the urban context. Given that Sub-Saharan Africa’s future is urban, our results add empirical evidence in support of the growing chorus of scholars advocating for comprehensive urban-oriented food security research and policy agendas across Sub-Saharan Africa.


Nutrients ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cindy W. Leung ◽  
Megan S. Zhou

Household food insecurity has been associated with adverse health outcomes; however, the mechanisms underlying these associations are not well-defined. Using data from 5005 adults from the 2007–2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), we examined associations between household food insecurity and cumulative biological risk, a measure of the body’s physiological response to chronic stress. Household food security was assessed using the 18-item Household Food Security Survey Module. Marginal food security refers to 1–2 positive responses, and food insecurity refers to ≥3 positive responses. The cumulative biological risk scores were calculated based on the distributions of ten biomarkers from the cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune systems. Elevated biological risk was defined as a risk score of ≥3. Multivariable regression models were used to examine associations between food security and cumulative biological risk scores, adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics. After multivariable adjustment, food insecurity was associated with a 0.14-unit higher cumulative biological risk score (95% CI 0.05–0.22, p-trend = 0.003) and higher odds of elevated biological risk (OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.05–1.37, p-trend = 0.003). These associations differed by gender. Among women, food insecurity was associated with 0.30-unit higher cumulative biological risk score (95% CI 0.14–0.45, p-trend = 0.0004) and higher odds of elevated biological risk (OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.29–2.00, p-trend < 0.0001). These associations were not observed in men. Women experiencing food insecurity demonstrated elevated levels of biological risk. These findings support the hypothesis that food insecurity may be associated with women’s chronic health outcomes through the pathway of chronic stress. Further research is needed to understand why these associations were not observed in men.


2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 2254-2259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna C Holland ◽  
Matthew C Kennedy ◽  
Stephen W Hwang

AbstractObjectiveTo compare the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS), the US Food Security Survey Module (US FSSM) and a modified version of the US FSSM in which references to buying food were changed to references to getting food, in terms of their classification of food security levels among homeless individuals, and to determine which of these instruments was most preferred by homeless individuals.DesignA cross-sectional survey.SettingRecruitment of participants took place at seven shelters and from three drop-in programmes that serve homeless individuals in Toronto, Canada.SubjectsFifty individuals who were ≥18 years of age, able to communicate in English and currently homeless.ResultsThe modified US FSSM assigned 20 % of participants to a lower ordinal food security category compared with the US FSSM, and only 8 % to a higher food security category. The HFIAS assigned 30 % of participants to a lower food security category compared with either the US FSSM or the modified US FSSM, and only 10–16 % of participants to a higher food security category. When asked to compare all three instruments, the majority of respondents (62 %) selected the HFIAS as the best instrument for people who are homeless.ConclusionsA majority of homeless individuals selected the HFIAS as the best food security instrument for people who are homeless. Our findings suggest that the HFIAS is a more appropriate instrument than the US FSSM for measuring food security in the homeless population.


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