Food Security and Psychological Distress among the Elderly in India

Abstract

Food insecurity affects nutrition, physical health and consequently one’s psychological well-being. Using a nationally representative longitudinal cohort of 29,308 Indian elderly people (aged 60+ years), this article examines the relationship between food insecurity and psychological distress. Self-reported emotional status experienced over the week before data collection was considered to construct psychological distress at the individual level. Based on the results of logistic regression, controlling for several demographic and socio-economic factors, a strong relationship was observed between food insecurity and psychological distress among the Indian elderly. This relationship is moderately higher in females than in males when accounting for demographic and socio-economic confounders. These findings have important policy implications urging intervention to enhance food security in the elderly at risk and to improve their physical and psychological health.

The impact of food insecurity on mental health among older adults residing in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review

“…Among the studies, six considered older adults to be 50 and above [ 43 , 44 , 46 , 49 – 51 ]. Four studies focused solely on adults aged 60 and [ 45 , 47 , 48 , 53 ]. In contrast, the rest of the studies included in the review had participants aged 65 and above [ 52 , 54 ].…”

“…In contrast, the rest of the studies included in the review had participants aged 65 and above [ 52 , 54 ]. All the studies involved male and female participants; however, only some of those studies (n = 3 differentiated the association between mental health and food insecurity by gender [ 43 – 45 ].…”

“…One study used only the latter question for food insecurity [ 43 ]. Two studies used responses to a 5-item questionnaire on food security adapted from the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India survey as their food insecurity outcome [ 45 , 53 ]. The study based in Brazil used the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale [ 47 ].…”

“…The most common theme in the studies (n = 3, 25%) was comparing the association of food insecurity and mental health between males and females ( Table 2 ). However, the results were inconsistent among them [ 43 – 45 ]. Two of the three studies indicated that the association between food insecurity and the mental health outcome studied was more robust for males than females [ 43 , 44 ].…”

“…Gyasi et al [2020] found that for severe levels of hunger, the odds of psychological distress were higher among men compared to women. While in Gogoi & Hazarika (2022), the degree of the association between food insecurity and psychological distress was lower for men than women across different models adjusted for individual and household characteristics [ 45 ]. In Bishwajit et al (2019), men in South Africa experiencing food insecurity had higher odds of depression than women [ 43 ].…”