Measuring food insecurity: An introduction to tools for human biologists and ecologists

Abstract

Objective: Food insecurity is a significant and growing concern undermining the wellbeing of 30% of the global population. Food in/security is a complex construct consisting of four dimensions: availability, access, utilization, and stability, making it challenging to measure. We provide a toolkit human biologists/ecologists can use to advance research on this topic.Methods: We review the strengths and limitations of common tools used to measure food access and utilization, the two dimensions most proximate to people's lived experience, and emphasize tools that provide data needed to best link food security with human biological outcomes. We also discuss methods that provide contextual data human biologists/ecologists will find useful for study design, ensuring instrument validity, and improving data quality.Results: Food access is principally measured using experience-based instruments that emphasize economic access. Social access, such as food sharing, is under-studied and we recommend using social network analysis to explore this dimension. In terms of utilization, emphasis has been on food choice measured as dietary diversity. Food preparation and intrahousehold distribution, also part of the utilization dimension, are less studied and standardized instruments for measuring both are lacking. The embodiment of food insecurity has focused on child growth, although a growing literature addresses adult mental wellbeing and chronic and infectious disease risk.Conclusions: We see the potential to expand outcomes to include reproductive and immune function, physical activity, and the gut microbiome. Human biologists/ecologists are well-positioned to advance understanding of the human health impacts of food insecurity and provide data to support intervention efforts.

Exploring the Prevalence and Severity of Global Hunger and Food Insecurity: Recent Dynamics and Sub-Saharan Africa’s Burden

“…Food security is entrenched in SDG 2 and according to the UN definition, it is when "people having at all times, physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life" [12]. Food insecurity (FI) is the absence of food security, where the conditions for food security are not fulfilled, and it can be understood as a continuum ranging from mild to severe [6,13]. While hunger is basically a condition of food deprivation or a lack of resources to acquire it, FI can manifest at various levels of severity, ranging from mild to moderate or severe.…”

Assessing the Prevalence and Severity of Global Hunger and Food Insecurity: Recent Dynamics and Sub-Saharan Africa’s Burden

“…Food security is entrenched in SDG 2, and according to the UN definition, it is when "people having at all times, physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life" [12]. Food insecurity (FI) is the absence of food security, where the conditions for food security are not fulfilled, and it can be understood as a continuum ranging from mild to severe [6,13]. While hunger is basically a condition of food deprivation or a lack of resources to acquire it, FI can manifest at various levels of severity, ranging from mild to moderate or severe.…”

Investigating and Quantifying Food Insecurity in Nigeria: A Systematic Review

“…Generally, conditions that expose people to FI and hunger include extreme poverty, unemployment, corruption, unstable food access, ill health, non-existent social protection programmes, and terrorism [8,[14][15][16][17][18][19]. FI is not only experienced in developing nations, as developed nations are also affected.…”

“…FI is not only experienced in developing nations, as developed nations are also affected. In Australia, for instance, over 2 million households were affected by severe FI in 2022 [20], while in the United States of America (USA), an estimated 14.8% of children resided in food-insecure households [8,21]. It is generally believed that FI risk is unevenly distributed.…”