The implications of food insecurity for nutritional adequacy

Abstract

Household food insecurity is a well-established social determinant of health. While previous research has shown that food insecurity increases the risk of nutrient inadequacy, this study is the first to examine this relationship across the severity of food insecurity in Canada. Households are classified as more severely food-insecure if the experience of deprivation goes beyond worrying about affording food or limited food selection to more serious compromises in the quality and quantity of food consumed. The researchers modelled distributions of usual micronutrient intakes using data on food and beverage consumption and determined the proportion of people with inadequate micronutrient intakes at each level of food insecurity.