Food Insecurity and Chronic Disease
Posted:
2017-08-10
A recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture describes the negative impact poor nutrition can have on an adult's health. The report, Food Insecurity, Chronic Disease, and Health Among Working-Age Adults used 2011-2015 data obtained from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), a source for national statistics on the health of the U.S. population. The report examined food insecurity as a predictor of health among working adults (41,854 total adults from households; ages 19-64 years) living at or below 200% of the U.S. federal poverty line. The differences in health outcomes (related to 10 chronic diseases) across the range of household food insecurity: high, marginal, low and very low were examined. Food insecurity was found to be significantly associated with all 10 of the chronic diseases studied. Individuals with low and very low food insecurity had higher rates of high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, asthma, diabetes, arthritis, kidney disease, hepatitis, stroke and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. These changes in disease prevalence rates by food insecurity status were statistically significant for all of the conditions studied. For all of these diseases, an individual's food insecurity predicted chronic illness rates in a dose-response way. As food security changed from food secure through to highly food insecure, the disease prevalence was higher as food insecurity worsened, with the highest rates for each of these diseases most prevalent among individuals with very low food security.
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