title: Relationship between food insecurity and nutritional status of Brazilian children under the age of five.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between food insecurity and nutritional status of Brazilian children.
  
  
  METHODS
  The National Demographic and Health Survey 2006 database is available on the worldwide web. Thus, the analyzed variables were obtained in this study, including nutritional indices, food insecurity and other socioeconomic and demographic variables. The height-for-age, weight-for-age and weight-for-height indices were evaluated as the Z-score of the World Health Organization reference curves. Food insecurity was defined by using the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale. Averages of three indices according to the presence of food insecurity were analyzed, including other variables. Linear regression evaluated the effect of food insecurity on the Z-score of the three nutritional indices.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The sample included 4,817 children, out of whom 7% had deficit in height, 7% were overweight and 47% had food insecurity. It was found that the average of height-for-age, weight-for-age and weight-for-height were -0.31, 0.12 and 0.40, respectively, being lower among children with food insecurity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The regression analysis showed that children living with some level of food insecurity have worse rates of height-for-age, even controlling for demographic and socioeconomic factors.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Leonardo Pozza dos
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Denise Petrucci
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Gigante
mesh_terms: D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D001938:Brazil; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005523:Food Supply; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status