The Relationship Between Food Insecurity and BMI for Preschool Children
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The Relationship Between Food Insecurity and BMI for Preschool Children Katherine E. Speirs1,2 • Barbara H. Fiese1,2 • STRONG Kids Research Team2,3
Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015
Abstract Objectives The literature exploring the relationship between food insecurity and obesity for preschoolaged children is inconclusive and suffers from inconsistent measurement. This paper explores the relationships between concurrent household and child food insecurity and child overweight as well as differences in these relationships by child gender using a sample of 2–5 year old children. Methods Using measured height and weight and responses to the Household Food Security Survey Module collected from a sample of 438 preschool-aged children (mean age 39 months) and their mothers, logistic regression models were fit to estimate the relationship between household and child food insecurity and child BMI. Separate models were fit for girls and boys. Results Twenty-seven percent of children from food insecure households and 25 % of child food insecure children were overweight or obese (BMI C 85 %). There were no statistically significant associations between either household or child food insecurity and BMI for the full sample. For
& Katherine E. Speirs [email protected] Barbara H. Fiese [email protected] STRONG Kids Research Team [email protected] 1
Family Resiliency Center, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 904 West Nevada Street, MC-081, Urbana, IL, USA
2
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
3
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 904 West Nevada Street, MC-081, Urbana, IL, USA
girls, but not boys, household food insecurity was associated with BMI z-scores (b = 0.23, p = 0.01). Conclusions Although food insecurity and overweight were not significantly associated, a noteworthy proportion of food insecure children were overweight or obese. Programs for young children should address food insecurity and obesity simultaneously by ensuring that young children have regular access to nutrient-dense foods. Keywords Childhood obesity Food insecurity Preschool-aged children Body mass index Child health
Significance This study adds to the literature exploring the relationship between food insecurity and childhood obesity by assessing both household and child-level food insecurity. Unlike other studies, our measure of child food insecurity is specific to one child.
Introduction Close to 20 years ago, Dietz [1] proposed an association between food insecurity; or inconsistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life [2]; and obesity. Since then, it has been consistently demonstrated that non-elderly adult women who are food insecure are more likely to be overweight or obese than their food secure counterparts [3, 4]. The literature on this relationship for children is mixed. In their review of the relationship between household food insecurity and weight status for children and adolescents, Larso
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