title: Association between household food insecurity and nutritional outcomes among children in Northeastern of Peninsular Malaysia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between household food insecurity and nutritional status of children in low-income households. A cross sectional study involved a survey of households (n = 223) receiving the financial assistance.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eligible mothers that fulfilled the inclusion criteria such as non-pregnant, non-lactating mothers, aged 18 to 55 years with their youngest children aged 2 to 12 years, were purposively selected. The Radimer/Cornell hunger and food-insecurity instrument was administered and children's height and weight were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  About 16.1% of the households were food secure, while 83.9% experienced some kind of food insecurity. Out of food insecure category, 29.6% households were food insecure, 19.3% women were individual food insecure and 35.0% fell into the child hunger category. Education of the mother (P = 0.047), household size (P = 0.024), number of children (P = 0.024), number of children going to school (P = 0.048), total monthly income (P < 0.001), income per capital (P < 0.001), number of household members contributing to the income (P = 0.018) and food expenditure (P = 0.006) were significant risk factors for household food insecurity. The prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting in children were 61.0%, 61.4% and 30.6% respectively. Based on multinomial logistic regression, children in food-insecure households were 2.15 times more likely to be underweight and three times to be stunted than children in the food-secure households.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings suggest that household food insecurity is associated with the nutritional status of the children in the rural area of Northeastern Peninsular Malaysia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, Health Campus, University Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, 16150 Kelantan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Ihab
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ali Naser
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, Health Campus, University Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, 16150 Kelantan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Rohana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jalil
authors.affiliation: Program of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Sciences, Health Campus, University Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, 16150 Kelantan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Wan Manan
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Wan Muda
authors.affiliation: Program of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Sciences, Health Campus, University Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, 16150 Kelantan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Wan Suriati
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Wan Nik
authors.affiliation: Program of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang, 43400 Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Zalilah
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Mohd Shariff
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, Health Campus, University Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, 16150 Kelantan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Mohamed Rusli
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Abdullah
keywords: Northeastern Peninsular Malaysia; child hunger; household food insecurity; nutritional status