Dietary Associations of Household Food Insecurity among Children of Mexican Descent: Results of a Binational Study

Abstract

Background/objective Children of Mexican descent frequently experience household food insecurity both in the United States (US) and Mexico, however, little is known about the associations of food insecurity with dietary intake. This study aimed to understand the level of perceived food insecurity and its association with dietary intake among children of Mexican descent residing in the US and Mexico. Design This cross-sectional study utilized data from a 2006 binational study of five-year-old children of Mexican descent living in migrant communities in California (CA) and Mexico (MX). Methods In CA, children were 301 participants from the CHAMACOS study, a longitudinal birth cohort in a Mexican immigrant community. MX children (n=301) were participants in the Proyecto Mariposa study, which was designed to capture a sample of women and their children living in Mexico who closely resembled the CA sample, yet who never migrated to the US. Household food insecurity was measured using the US Department of Agriculture Food Security Scale and dietary intake was assessed with food frequency questionnaires. Analysis of variance was used to examine unadjusted and adjusted differences in total energy, nutrient intake, and consumption of food groups by household food security status. Results Approximately 39% of the CA mothers and 75% of the MX mothers reported low or very low food security in the last 12 months (p<0.01). Children in the US, experiencing food insecurity consumed more fat, saturated fat, sweets and fried snacks than children not experiencing food insecurity. In contrast, in Mexico food insecurity was associated with lower intake of total carbohydrates, dairy and vitamin B6. Conclusions Programs and policies addressing food insecurity in the US and Mexico may need to take steps to address dietary intake among children in households experiencing food insecurity, possibly through education and programs to increase resources to obtain healthy foods.

Household food insecurity: a systematic review of the measuring instruments used in epidemiological studies

“…• English: Trinidad & Tobago (88) • Portuguese: Brazil (89) • Spanish: Mexico (90) • Farsi/Persian: Iran (91) • Luganda, Luo, Runyakitara, Lusoga, Ateso: Uganda (92) • Bengali: Bangladesh Modified HFSSM Six-Item Short Form (22) HFSSM-6SFm USA • Russian: Russian Federation (93) • English: Vanuatu (94) 6 0 2…”

Diversidad de la dieta y consumo de nutrimentos en niños de 24 a 59 meses de edad y su asociación con inseguridad alimentaria

“…Este resultado es similar al encontrado en un estudio realizado en niños mexicanos donde se concluye que la condición de inseguridad alimentaria no es determinante en el consumo de micronutrimentos. 35 Lo anterior lleva a pensar en dos posibles razones: la primera tiene que ver con el aumento en la disponibilidad, a través del mercado o de programas sociales, de alimentos fortificados con micronutrimentos como harinas, leche y alimentos industrializados, que pudiera estar asegurando el consumo recomendado y con bajo precio. La segunda posible razón está relacionada con una limitación del cuestionario de frecuencia de consumo de alimentos, ya que los cálculos en las cantidades de alimentos consumidas parten de tamaños y pesos estándar asignados a las porciones, lo cual podría estar sobreestimando el consumo promedio por día de alimentos, 16 además de que se ha documentado que el consumo de alimentos que aportan una cantidad importante de vitaminas y micronutrimentos, como las frutas y verduras, regularmente se encuentra sobreestimado por los encuestados por cuestiones de aceptación social o por exceso en el conteo de las raciones consumidas.…”

Navigating changing food environments – Transnational perspectives on dietary behaviours and implications for nutrition counselling

“…To explore these processes, investigators have conducted binational studies to help distinguish potentially health-enhancing pre-migration dietary behaviours from those that may be harmful. Such studies have focused on binational samples of Mexican-origin Latinos in the US and Latinos in Mexico and generally suggest that US migrants reflect the dietary patterns of their communities of origin (Rosas et al 2009, Colby 2009). At the same time, there also is a greater likelihood among migrants of developing consumption patterns that reflect the prevalence of fast foods and other inexpensive foods in their surroundings that are high in calories and low in nutritional value (Perez-Escamilla 2009, Hawkes 2006).…”