• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.40 no.8
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• pp.762-768
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• 2007

This study examined household food insecurity and the associations of food insecurity with socioeconomic conditions, food behaviors, and nutrient intakes among 458 older adults(mean age=$73.2{\pm}4.5$) from 5 clusters of low-income areas in Seoul, Korea. Using an adapted version of the USDA short form household food insecurity scale, 63.4% of the households were food insecure(40.7% for food insecure without hunger and 22.7% for food insecure with hunger). The proportion of household was lower on the items measured more severe level of food insecurity. Food insecurity was linearly and negatively associated with food expenditure, food secured period and the degree of nutrition management skills, health status and depression. Food secure older adults had mere of energy and other nutrients from animal resources(riboflavin and animal protein, fat and calcium), but less of carbohydrates than those from the food insecure households. These results suggest household food insecurity measures used in this study was valid as well as food insecurity was prevalent and an important indicator of nutrition well-being among low income elderly persons.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.308-319
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to assess risk factors associated with food insecurity in the Korean elderly aged over 65 years using data from the Korea National Health & Nutrition Examination Survey 2013 (KNHANES VI). A total of 1,200 subjects were analyzed among the participants of the KNHANES 2013 by using SPSS statistics complex samples (ver. 21.0). Food insecurity was measured by using the modified US Household Food Security/Hunger Survey Module. Thirteen percent of subjects lived in food insecure households. There were differences in the prevalence of food insecurity according to sex, educational level, income level, and household structure. Mean age of the food insecurity group was significantly higher than that of the food security group. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that food insecurity was significantly associated with alcohol intake (OR: 1.82), prevalence of melancholy (OR: 2.07) and suicidal thoughts (OR: 2.67), and intake deficiency of energy (OR: 1.60), calcium (OR: 1.97), iron (OR: 1.97), potassium (OR: 1.96), riboflavin (OR: 1.76), and niacin (OR: 1.64), while not with smoking, physical activity, chronic diseases including obesity, anemia, diabetes, and osteoarthritis, and deficiency of protein, vitamin A, thiamin and vitamin C. These findings suggest that food insecurity is strongly related to mental health and certain nutrient intakes. Prospective research is needed to establish the effects of food insecurity on chronic diseases.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.471-480
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• 2011

Our previous studies have demonstrated the inadequate nutritional status of Vietnamese female marriage immigrants in Korea. Major possible reasons include food insecurity due to economic problems as well as a lack of adjustment to unfamiliar Korean foods and limited access to Vietnamese foods; however, no study has investigated food insecurity among such intermarried couples. This study was performed to investigate the prevalence of food insecurity in Korean-husband-Vietnamese-wife couples and to determine whether they exhibit an intrahousehold discrepancy regarding food insecurity. A cross-sectional analysis of the Cohort of Intermarried Women in Korea study was performed with 84 intermarried couples. Among the 84 Vietnamese immigrants, 48.8% and 41.7% had food insecurity due to economic problems and a lack of foods appealing to their appetite, respectively. There was a marked discrepancy in reporting food insecurity between Vietnamese wives (22.6-38.1%) and their Korean husbands (6.0-15.5%). Vietnamese wives were five and two times more food-insecure due to economic problems and no foods appealing to their appetite, respectively, than their Korean spouses. A follow-up study is needed to investigate the causes of this discrepancy and ways of reducing food insecurity among female marriage immigrants living in low-income, rural communities.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.135-142
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• 2018

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This cross-sectional study assessed household food security status and determined its association with diet quality and weight status among indigenous women from the Mah Meri tribe in Peninsular Malaysia. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The Radimer/Cornell Hunger and Food Insecurity Instrument and the Malaysian Healthy Eating Index (HEI) were used to assess household food security status and diet quality, respectively. Information on socio-demographic characteristics and 24-hour dietary recall data were collected through face-to-face interview, and anthropometric measurements including weight, height, and body mass index (BMI) were obtained from 222 women. RESULTS: Majority of households (82.9%) experienced different levels of food insecurity: 29.3% household food insecurity, 23.4% individual food insecurity, and 30.2% fell into the child hunger group. The food-secure group had significantly fewer children and smaller household sizes than the food-insecure groups (P < 0.05). The mean household income, income per capita, and food expenditure significantly decreased as food insecurity worsened (P < 0.001). The food-secure group had significantly higher Malaysian HEI scores for grains and cereals (P < 0.01), as well as for meat, poultry, and eggs (P < 0.001), than the food-insecure groups. The child-hunger group had significantly higher fat (P < 0.05) and sodium (P < 0.001) scores than the food-secure and household food-insecure groups. Compared to the individual food-insecure and child-hunger groups, multivariate analysis of covariance showed that the food-secure group was significantly associated with a higher Malaysian HEI score while the household food-insecure group was significantly associated with a higher BMI after controlling for age (P < 0.025). CONCLUSIONS: The majority of indigenous households faced food insecurity. Food insecurity at the individual and child levels was associated with lower quality of diet, while food insecurity at the household level was associated with higher body weight. Therefore, a substantial effort by all stakeholders is warranted to improve food insecurity among poorer households. The results suggest a pressing need for nutritional interventions to improve dietary intake among low income households.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.425-432
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• 2015

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Food insecurity has been suggested as being negatively associated with healthy behaviors and health status. This study was performed to identify the associations between food insecurity and healthy behaviors among Korean adults. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The data used were the 2011 Community Health Survey, cross-sectional representative samples of 253 communities in Korea. Food insecurity was defined as when participants reported that their family sometimes or often did not get enough food to eat in the past year. Healthy behaviors were considered as non-smoking, non-high risk drinking, participation in physical activities, eating a regular breakfast, and maintaining a normal weight. Multiple logistic regression and multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to identify the association between food insecurity and healthy behaviors. RESULTS: The prevalence of food insecurity was 4.4% (men 3.9%, women 4.9%). Men with food insecurity had lower odds ratios (ORs) for non-smoking, 0.75 (95% CI: 0.68-0.82), participation in physical activities, 0.82 (95% CI: 0.76-0.90), and eating a regular breakfast, 0.66 (95% CI: 0.59-0.74), whereas they had a higher OR for maintaining a normal weight, 1.19 (95% CI: 1.09-1.30), than men with food security. Women with food insecurity had lower ORs for non-smoking, 0.77 (95% CI: 0.66-0.89), and eating a regular breakfast, 0.79 (95% CI: 0.72-0.88). For men, ORs for obesity were 0.78 (95% CI: 0.70-0.87) for overweight and 0.56 (95% CI: 0.39-0.82) for mild obesity. For women, the OR for moderate obesity was 2.04 (95% CI: 1.14-3.63) as compared with normal weight. CONCLUSIONS: Food insecurity has a different impact on healthy behaviors. Provision of coping strategies for food insecurity might be critical to improve healthy behaviors among the population.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.216-227
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• 2022

Background: Food insecurity may contribute to mental health indicators such as stress, anxiety, or depression. We investigated whether food insecurity was associated with mental health indicators and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a representative sample of the Korean population. Methods: This study enrolled 12,987 adults without a history of medically serious disease from the 2012, 2013, and 2015 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Household food security status was categorized as "food security," "mild food insecurity," and "moderate/severe food insecurity." The association between mental health and HRQoL was evaluated using a multivariate logistic regression model with food security as the reference group. Results: The adjusted odds ratio of adverse mental health or low HRQoL increased significantly in mild or moderate/severe food insecurity compared to food security. In the moderate/severe food insecurity group, it was 1.98% (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.31-2.99) higher for perceived stress, 3.58% (95% CI, 2.44-5.26) higher for depression symptoms, 4.16% (95% CI, 2.68-6.45) higher for suicidal ideation, and 2.81% (95% CI, 1.91-4.15) higher for quality of life. Conclusion: Food insecurity was strongly associated with negative mental health status and poor HRQoL. There is a need for a dietary support program that provides psychosocial support to those experiencing food insecurity.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.19-32
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to examine household food insecurity and the associations of food insecurity with socioeconomic characteristics, food behaviors, health status and nutrient intake among elderly people in a rural area. This study included 191 elderly people (mean age = $72.0{\pm}7.4$) in Jeollabuk-do, Jangsu-gun. House food insecurity was measured using an adapted version of the USDA short form household food insecurity scale, and nutrient intake measured by a 24-hour dietary recall. Only 15.2% of the subjects were in food-insecure households, 84.8% of the elderly households were food-secure. The food-insecure households were significantly lower in the number of family, frequency of shopping, and perceived health status than the food-secure households. In addition, they had serious tooth problems and NSI (Nutrition Screening Index) scores. Food-insecure households were significantly lower in most areas of nutrient intake (energy, protein, fat, Ca, P, Fe, K, Na, Zn, Vit. $B_2$, niacin, Vit. E), and also lower in nutrient intake compared to dietary reference intake (energy, protein, P, Fe, K, Na, Vit. $B_1$, Vit. $B_2$, niacin, Vit. E). These results suggest that the household food insecurity measures used in this study were an important indicator of nutritional well-being among elderly persons in the rural area. Food insecurity should be considered an important issue to public health and food service programs should be expanded for food-insecure households in rural areas.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.226-232
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• 2016

Background: This study was conducted to analyze the influence of socioeconomic characteristics of community on the food insecurity under the control of personal socioeconomic factors which may be influence to the food security. Methods: Food insecurity and individual socioeconomic characteristics were obtained from 2012 community health survey. Socioeconomic characteristics of communities were extracted from the data of Statistics Korea and local governments. Personal socioeconomic factors were sex, age, educational status, job, and monthly family income. Socioeconomic characteristics of communities were administrative district (urban vs. rural), senior population rate, degree of financial self reliance, degree of financial independence, portion of welfare budget, number of welfare facilities, and unemployment rate. We analysed the relationships between the food insecurity and socioeconomic characteristics of community using multi-level analysis under the control of personal characteristics. Results: On personal level age, sex, education status, and monthly family income were related with food insecurity. On community level administrative district (urban vs. rural), degree of financial independence, unemployment rate, and proportion of welfare budget among local general government accounts were related to individual food insecurity. Rural area, district with low levels of financial independence, low portion of welfare budget, and greater unemployment rate showed a higher level of food insecurity. Conclusion: To reduce the level of food insecurity in a community it is necessary to decrease the unemployment rate, in addition to providing support from the central government by increasing the proportion of the welfare budget so that both factors contribute to raising the degree of financial independence.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.31-60
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• 2012

This case study tried to explore the food insecurity experiences of poor households with children, since 'food insecurity experiences' of poor households represents economic inequality and social deprivation in the midst of a affluent society. Interviewees in this reports reported that they have found difficulties with buying right or enough food materials due to short of income. As well, they have usually experienced the selection and use of only low-grade foods, substitution for more cheap food materials, limitation of available food materials(especially, meats and fruits), and monotonous diets in their everyday lives. Sometimes, their children skipped their meals due to their monotonous diets. To sum up, I could identify that they(poor households with children) had experienced many components of 'food insecurity' constructs in their daily lives. In spite of, there are some distinction between reports through food insecurity scale and records of interviews and the various foods-supply programs have supplemented their food insecure situation. Therefore, we should give consideration to these in the use and interpretation of the results of food insecurity scales.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.269-283
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• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine the food security status of urban poor adolescents and its association with diet quality. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 188 adolescents aged 13-18 yrs living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Household food insecurity and dietary intake data were collected using the Radimer/Cornell hunger and food insecurity instrument and 2-day 24-h dietary recalls, respectively. Diet quality was determined using the Malaysian Healthy Eating Index (HEI). Weight and height were measured and body mass index-for-age, as well as height-for-age z scores were calculated. RESULTS: The present study revealed that 47.9% of the adolescents experienced household food insecurity, 24.5% experienced individual food insecurity, 18.6% household food security, and 9.0% child hunger. The mean score of diet quality was 56.83 ± 10.09, with a significantly lower HEI score among food insecure adolescents (household food insecure, individual food insecure, and child hunger) than household food secure adolescents (P = 0.001). The differences between food secure and food insecure households were found to be significant for energy (P = 0.001) and nutrients including proteins (P = 0.006), carbohydrates (P = 0.005), dietary fiber (P = 0.001), folate (P < 0.001), and vitamin C (P = 0.006). The multiple linear regression showed that adolescents who experienced food insecurity (β = -0.328; P = 0.003) were found to be significantly associated with poor diet quality (F = 2.726; P < 0.01), wherein 13.3% of the variation in the diet quality was explained by the food security status. CONCLUSIONS: Experiencing food insecurity contributed to poor diet quality among urban poor adolescents. Further longitudinal studies are needed to comprehensively understand this association to improve food insecurity and diet quality among urban poor communities.