Child experience of food insecurity is associated with child diet and physical activity.
BACKGROUND
Food insecurity is associated with deficits in child development and health, but little is known about how children's specific food-insecurity experiences play out through nutritional and non-nutritional pathways that may compromise well-being.


OBJECTIVE
This study used child self-reports of food insecurity to examine the types of food-insecurity experiences that were most prevalent and the relations between child food insecurity (CFI), child diet, and child physical activity (PA).


METHODS
A total of 3605 fourth- and fifth-grade children whose schools participated in the Network for a Healthy California-Children's PowerPlay! campaign completed 24-h diary-assisted recalls and surveys including items from the Child Food Security Assessment and questions about PA. Data were analyzed by using regression and logistic regression models.


RESULTS
CFI was present in 60% of the children and included experiences of cognitive, emotional, and physical awareness of food insecurity. Greater levels of CFI were associated with higher consumption of energy, fat, sugar, and fiber and a diet lower in vegetables. For instance, a child at the highest level of CFI, on average, consumed ∼494 kJ/d (118 kcal), 8 g/d of sugar, and 4 g/d of fat more than a food-secure child. Higher CFI was associated with a marginally significant difference (P = 0.06) in minutes of PA (17 min/d less for children at the highest level of CFI vs. those who were food secure) and with significantly greater perceived barriers to PA.


CONCLUSIONS
CFI is a troublingly frequent, multidomain experience that influences children's well-being through both nutritional (dietary) and non-nutritional (e.g., PA) pathways. CFI may lead to poor-quality diet and less PA and their developmental consequences. Practitioners should consider CFI when assessing child health and well-being and can do so by asking children directly about their CFI experiences.
College of Social Work and fram@mailbox.sc.edu.
Maryah Stella
MS
Fram
Atkins Center for Weight and Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA; and Nutrition Policy Institute, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Oakland, CA.
Lorrene D
LD
Ritchie
Atkins Center for Weight and Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA; and.
Nila
N
Rosen
Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC;
Edward A
EA
Frongillo
D002140:California; D002648:Child; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D002669:Child Welfare; D004032:Diet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004034:Diet Surveys; D002149:Energy Intake; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005523:Food Supply / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D011203:Poverty; D057566:Self Report; D014675:Vegetables
child diet; child food insecurity; child health; child physical activity; hunger