title: Food insecurity is linked to a food environment promoting obesity in households with children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the extent to which the presence and accessibility of healthful and less healthful foods in children's homes vary with level of food security.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 41 parents or primary caregivers who had at least 1 child ages 2-13 and resided in a low-income area with limited food access completed a home food inventory and a validated measure assessing household food security.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with food-secure participants, marginal or low/very low food-secure caregivers reported significantly more obesity-promoting foods in the home, more microwavable or quick-cook frozen foods, and greater access to less healthful foods in the kitchen (all Ps < .05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Given the greater presence and accessibility of less healthful foods, targeting home food environment may improve diet quality and health status in children of low-income, food insecure households.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL.
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Nackers
authors.forename: Bradley M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Appelhans
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017028:Caregivers; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004777:Environment; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005523:Food Supply / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010290:Parents; D063766:Pediatric Obesity; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: childhood obesity; food security; home environment; home food inventory