TY - JOUR
T1 - The Relationship Between Food Insecurity and BMI for Preschool Children
AU - Speirs, Katherine E.
AU - Fiese, Barbara H.
AU - STRONG Kids Research Team, Kids Research Team
N1 - Funding Information:
The first author has served as a paid consultant for Maryland’s Food Supplement Nutrition Education Program. The second author has received research grants from the University of Illinois Health and Wellness Initiative, United States Department of Agriculture, NIH, Feeding America, and the Dairy Institute. At the time of this manuscript was prepared was paid for lectures by the National Council on Family Relations, National Head Start Research Association, University of Coimbra, Villanova University, and the Institute of Medicine; and received royalties from Yale University Press.
Funding Information:
This research was funded, in part, by grants from the Illinois Council for Agriculture Research to Kristen Harrison (PI), the University of Illinois Health and Wellness Initiative to Barbara Fiese and Sharon Donovan (Co-PIs), and the United States Department of Agriculture (Hatch 793–328) to Barbara Fiese (PI). The STRONG Kids Team includes Kristen Harrison, Kelly Bost, Brent McBride, Sharon Donovan, Diana Grigsby-Toussaint, Juhee Kim, Janet Liechty, Angela Wiley, Margarita Teran-Garcia and Barbara Fiese.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.
PY - 2016/4/1
Y1 - 2016/4/1
N2 - Objectives The literature exploring the relationship between food insecurity and obesity for preschool-aged 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 ≥ 85 %). There were no statistically significant associations between either household or child food insecurity and BMI for the full sample. For girls, but not boys, household food insecurity was associated with BMI z-scores (β = 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.
AB - Objectives The literature exploring the relationship between food insecurity and obesity for preschool-aged 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 ≥ 85 %). There were no statistically significant associations between either household or child food insecurity and BMI for the full sample. For girls, but not boys, household food insecurity was associated with BMI z-scores (β = 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.
KW - Body mass index
KW - Child health
KW - Childhood obesity
KW - Food insecurity
KW - Preschool-aged children
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U2 - 10.1007/s10995-015-1881-0
DO - 10.1007/s10995-015-1881-0
M3 - Article
C2 - 26662281
AN - SCOPUS:84961129256
SN - 1092-7875
VL - 20
SP - 925
EP - 933
JO - Maternal and child health journal
JF - Maternal and child health journal
IS - 4
ER -