scholarly journals Household Food Dynamics and Food System Resilience Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-National Comparison of China and the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhengxia Dou ◽  
Darko Stefanovski ◽  
David Galligan ◽  
Margaret Lindem ◽  
Paul Rozin ◽  
...  

The COVID-19 pandemic is a “perfect storm” that is testing the resilience and functional stability of the food system, as it ultimately affects household food dynamics and consumer food experiences. This cross-national survey-based study examined in real time how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted food-centric matters in 1,732 Chinese and 1,547 U.S. households during the stay-at-home directives. Both cohorts reported increased efficiency in the use of food, families spending more time cooking and eating together, and more prudent use of food with less waste. Food purchasing patterns shifted from frequent trips to the store to dramatic increases in online ordering. A small proportion (2% U.S. and 11% Chinese respondents) reported clinically significant weight gains of >4.5 kg. Household food security weakened, with large increases in people worrying about or experiencing food shortage. Collective grocery-shopping experiences by survey respondents indicated that the functional stability of food supply systems remained steady; all food types were somewhat available, except for noticeably higher prices widely reported by the Chinese cohort. This study offers insights into food system resilience when facing the pandemic and sheds light on future food patterns as well as long-term questions for additional research about how people make decisions and food behavioral changes at times of crisis.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhengxia Dou ◽  
Darko Stefanovski ◽  
David Galligan ◽  
Margaret Lindem ◽  
Paul Rozin ◽  
...  

This cross-national survey-based study examined in real time how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted food-centric matters in 1,732 Chinese and 1,547 U.S. households during the stay-at-home directives. Both cohorts reported increased efficiency in use of food, families spending more time cooking and eating together, and more prudent use of food with less waste. Food purchasing patterns shifted from frequent trips to the store to dramatic increases in online ordering. A small proportion (11% Chinese, 2% U.S. respondents) reported clinically significant weight gains of >4.5 kg. Household food insecurity worsened, with large increases in people worrying about or experiencing food shortage. Collective grocery-shopping experience by survey respondents indicated that the functional stability of food supply systems remained steady. All food types were somewhat available, except for noticeably higher prices widely reported by the Chinese cohort. This study offers insights into future food patterns and sheds light on long-term questions for additional research about how people make decisions and food behavioral changes at times of crisis and the consequences thereafter.


2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian J. Cohen ◽  
Christine Ateah ◽  
Joseph Ducette ◽  
Matthew Mahon ◽  
Alexander Tabori ◽  
...  

BMC Nutrition ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Milagro Escobar ◽  
Andrea DeCastro Mendez ◽  
Maria Romero Encinas ◽  
Sofia Villagomez ◽  
Janet M. Wojcicki

Abstract Background Food insecurity impacts nearly one-in-four Latinx households in the United States and has been exacerbated by the novel coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic. Methods We examined the impact of COVID-19 on household and child food security in three preexisting, longitudinal, Latinx urban cohorts in the San Francisco Bay Area (N = 375 households, 1875 individuals). Households were initially recruited during pregnancy and postpartum at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG) and UCSF Benioff prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. For this COVID-19 sub-study, participants responded to a 15-min telephonic interview. Participants answered 18 questions from the US Food Security Food Module (US HFSSM) and questions on types of food consumption, housing and employment status, and history of COVID-19 infection as per community or hospital-based testing. Food security and insecurity levels were compared with prior year metrics. Results We found low levels of household food security in Latinx families (by cohort: 29.2%; 34.2%; 60.0%) and child food security (56.9%, 54.1%, 78.0%) with differences between cohorts explained by self-reported levels of education and employment status. Food security levels were much lower than those reported previously in two cohorts where data had been recorded from prior years. Reported history of COVID-19 infection in households was 4.8% (95% Confidence Interval (CI); 1.5–14.3%); 7.2% (95%CI, 3.6–13.9%) and 3.5% (95%CI, 1.7–7.2%) by cohort and was associated with food insecurity in the two larger cohorts (p = 0.03; p = 0.01 respectively). Conclusions Latinx families in the Bay Area with children are experiencing a sharp rise in food insecurity levels during the COVID-19 epidemic. Food insecurity, similar to other indices of poverty, is associated with increased risk for COVID-19 infection. Comprehensive interventions are needed to address food insecurity in Latinx populations and further studies are needed to better assess independent associations between household food insecurity, poor nutritional health and risk of COVID-19 infection.


2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (suppl) ◽  
pp. 27s-37s ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo Melgar-Quinonez ◽  
Michelle Hackett

Measuring household food insecurity represents a challenge due to the complexity and wide array of factors associated with this phenomenon. For over one decade, researchers and agencies throughout the world have been using and assessing the validity of variations of the United States Department of Agriculture Household Food Security Supplemental Module. Thanks to numerous studies of diverse design, size, and purpose, the Household Food Security Supplemental Module has shown its suitability to directly evaluate the perceptions of individuals on their food security status. In addition, challenges and limitations are becoming clearer and new research questions are emerging as the process advances. The purpose of this article is to describe the development, validation procedures, and use of the Household Food Security Supplemental Module in very diverse settings. The most common Household Food Security Supplemental Module related studies have been conducted using criterion validity, Rasch modeling and Cronbach-Alpha Coefficient. It is critical that researchers, policy makers, governmental and non-governmental agencies intensify their efforts to further develop tools that provide valid and reliable measures of food security in diverse population groups. Additional work is needed to synthesize a universally applicable tool able to capture the global human phenomenon of food insecurity.


1982 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Richard Udry ◽  
Fred R. Deven ◽  
Samuel J. Coleman

SummaryParallel analyses of recent data from the United States, Thailand, Belgium, and Japan all confirm the finding that female age and not male age is the more important contributor to the decline in frequency of marital intercourse during the childbearing ages. The most probable explanation is the decline in female (but not male) androgen levels during the age span examined.


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