Assessment of Food Insecurity and Nutritional Outcomes in Bachok, Kelantan

Abstract

Aim: This study is to examine the association between food insecurity and nutritional outcomes among children and adults and its impact on the quality of life of the mother in rural sample in Bachok-Kelantan. Method: A cross-sectional survey of low income households was conducted and 223 households of mothers aged 18-55 years old, non-lactating, non-pregnant mother and having at least one child in 2-12 years range were purposively selected. A questionnaire was administered including the Radimer/Cornell scale; items on sociodemographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements and quality of life tool (SF36). Results: The study reported that 16.1% of the households were food secure, while 83.9% experienced some kind of food insecurity, (29.6% households were food insecure, 19.3% individuals were food insecure and 35.0% fell into the child hunger category). The prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting among the food insecure children were 61.0%, 61.4% and 30.6% respectively, and the prevalence of weight-for-height (overweight) was 1.3%. Based on multinomial logistic regression, larger household size (OR=1.776; 95%C.I, 1.35, 2.32; p<0.001), number of children in the household (OR=1.20; 95%CI,1.025, 1.42; p=0.024), total monthly income (OR=0.977; 95% CI, 0.995, 0.998; p<0.001), income per capita (OR = 0.98; 95% CI, 0.97, 0.98; p<0.001) and food expenditure (OR=0.977; 95% CI, 0.99, 1.00; p=0.049) were found to be significant risk factors for household food insecurity. This study showed there was an association between food insecurity and Diet Dietary score and dietary pattern. Furthermore, food insecure households had lower intake of animal protein, fruits and vegetables compared to their counterparts in the food secure group. The findings of the study reveal that the children in the food insecure were 2.15 times more likely to be underweight and 3 times more likely to be stunted than the children in the food secure households, while no association with wasting was reported. Although, the study reported higher prevalence of overweight and obese mothers (52%) and (47.1%) at-risk WC (≥80 cm), no significant association has been found between food insecurity, BMI and waist circumferences. The score for all the eight domains of quality of life were negatively associated with food insecurity. Conclusion: Our study showed that food insecurity in low income households from Bachok´ is highly prevalent and associated with poor living conditions and it highlighted the pervasive vulnerability of individuals living in food insecure households. In addition to nutritional problems, food insecure households in Bachok-Kelantan struggle with a broad spectrum of health-related problems.

Household Food Insecurity is Associated with Undernutrition among Primary School Children in Aden Governorate, Yemen

“…There was a significant mean difference between food-secure and foodinsecure children in terms of HAZ (p<0.00). This finding is in agreement with a study carried out by Ihab et al (2015) reported that household food insecurity was associated with chronic undernutrition of the school children.…”

“…The proportions of households with multiple working persons were higher among secure households compared to insecure households. This finding is consistent with Ihab et al (2015), because they observed that the addition of one more employed member per household resulted additional income that reduced food insecurity.…”

“…The studies of association between household food security and undernutrition, food consumption inadequacy, decreased cognitive and educational success, and psychosocial difficulties among children are numerous (Hackett et al 2009;FAO 2012;Ihab et al 2015). However, in Yemen studies of association between food insecurity and undernutrition among low socio-economic households are limited (Saaka & Osman 2013).…”

Predictors of Severe Acute Malnutrition among Children Aged 6 to 59 Months Attended out Patient Therapeutic Program Center in Kavre District of Nepal - A Case Control Study

“…Globally different studies showed different predictors for developing SAM including female gender [7], Birth interval [3], type and size of family [3,8], parent's education and occupation [3,8,9], household Income [8], sub-optimal frequency of breast feeding [3], Pre-lacteal feeding [8], improper exclusive breastfeeding [8], sub-optimal frequency of complementary feeding [3], inappropriate feeding practice [9], late initiation of complementary diet [8], recurrent diarrhea [3,9,10], and food insecurity [11][12][13].…”

Diet Quality and Growth Status of Children Aged Two to Six Years at Tuba Island, Langkawi, Malaysia

“…In addition, a study in a selected kindergarten from urban and rural areas in Selangor found that the rates of stunting and wasting in children from rural areas were higher with 28.6% and 31% compared to children living in an urban region with 15% and 22% respectively (Aziz & Devi 2012). Same findings were found among indigenous population across states in Malaysia ranging from 35 % to 76 % of indigenous children under five years old were suffering from undernutrition, where stunting was more prevalent than underweight (Chua et al 2012;Geik et al 2016;Murtaza et al 2018;Yen et al 2018) An individual's dietary intake determines the quality of a diet; thus, it is important to adequately consume food with high quality and quantity of various nutrients in order for the body to sufficiently absorb macronutrients and Salleh et al micronutrients (Ihab 2015). Adequate intake during the first two years of life plays a vital role for the nutritional status of children in the future, as it can become a risk factor for stunting (UNICEF 2013).…”