title: Severe food insecurity is associated with obesity among Brazilian adolescent females.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether household food insecurity (HFI) is associated with a higher prevalence of excessive weight (EW) in a large random sample of Brazilian female adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nationally representative cross-sectional study. EW was the outcome variable (BMI ≥ 85th percentile of WHO reference for adolescents aged 15-18 years and BMI ≥ 25 kg/m(2) for those aged 19 years). HFI was measured with the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale. Associations were measured using crude and adjusted prevalence ratios (PR) with 95 % confidence intervals through Poisson regression models taking into account the complex sampling design.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were derived from the third wave of the Demographic and Health Survey conducted in 2006-2007, in Brazil.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample included 1529 female adolescents aged 15-19 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of any level of HFI was 40.8 %, with 26.6 % of households experiencing mild, 9.4 % moderate and 4.8 % severe food insecurity. The overall prevalence of EW was 21.9 % (12.9 % were overweight and 9.0 % obese). EW prevalence among those living in severely, moderately and mildly food-insecure households was 36.8 %, 14.9 % and 16.5 %, respectively (P for the overall association = 0.036). Women living in severely food-insecure households had an increased prevalence of EW compared with their food-secure counterparts (PR = 1.96; 95 % CI 1.18, 3.27; P = 0.007), after adjusting for important confounders.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study suggests that severe but not mild or moderate HFI is independently associated with EW among adolescents residing in Brazil, a middle-income country undergoing the nutrition transition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Applied Nutrition, Observatório de Epidemiologia Nutricional, Institute of Nutrition Josué de Castro, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, CCS - Bloco J - 2° andar, Cidade Universitária - Ilha do Fundão, CEP 21941-902 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. kacetal@gmail.com
authors.forename: Gilberto
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kac
authors.forename: Gustavo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Velásquez-Melendez
authors.forename: Michael M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Schlüssel
authors.forename: Ana Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Segall-Côrrea
authors.forename: Antônio Am
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pérez-Escamilla
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004032:Diet / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005523:Food Supply / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006306:Health Surveys; D019456:Health Transition; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D011203:Poverty; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult