ResearchOriginal ResearchAssociations between Food Security Status and Dietary Inflammatory Potential within Lower-Income Adults from the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Cycles 2007 to 2014
Section snippets
Data
Data for this study came from the NHANES 2007 to 2014 cross-sectional samples, collected in 2-year cycles. These were the most recent cycles that had released the variables of interest included in this study. Approval for NHANES and data collection was provided by the National Center for Health Statistics Research Ethics Review Board. Secondary analysis of NHANES data was determined to be exempt from institutional review board by the University of Wisconsin–Madison Health Sciences Institutional
Results
Among all NHANES 2007 to 2014 participants, 11,072 were ≥20 years of age and had an income-to-poverty ratio ≤3.00. Of these participants, 10,630 had nonmissing data for variables of interest. Table 1 presents descriptive statistics by food security status. Those who fared worse socioeconomically tended to be less food secure. The percent of individuals not working but looking for work was three times as high among those with very low food security than among those with high food security (7.8%
Discussion
Although food insecurity has been associated with a number of adverse health outcomes, including poor mental health,52 there is a need for greater evidence regarding underlying biological mechanisms to ascertain the causal nature of these associations. One hypothesis is that food insecurity may influence inflammatory pathways associated with chronic disease due to psychosocial strain or diet quality.53 This study is among the first to examine whether food insecurity is associated with dietary
Conclusion
Results of this study suggest that food insecurity may be associated with dietary inflammatory potential, which has been linked with a number of chronic diseases. Findings further suggest that elderly persons may be especially at risk for a high dietary inflammatory potential when struggling with food insecurity. More evidence is needed to determine whether reducing dietary inflammatory potential among food insecure populations is a viable strategy for addressing health disparities. Although
R. S. Bergmans is a research fellow, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
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2021, Toxicology and Applied PharmacologyCitation Excerpt :As discussed in “The autoimmune epidemic” by Donna Jackson Nakazawa (2008), prevalence of autoimmune diseases and cancer is higher in neighborhoods of low SES and higher exposure to environmental pollutants. Evidence from numerous studies since have extended the awareness of socio-economic stressors to include racism and systemic discrimination, social relations, economic and food insecurity, diet, and depression and anxiety on imbalances in redox processes and inflammation that influence ill health across the lifespan (Packard et al., 2011; Bergmans et al., 2018; Berger et al., 2019; Leschak and Eisenberger, 2019; Zhang et al., 2019). Herein, we have described multiple mechanisms affecting intracellular conditions that accelerate the aging phenotype and influence dysfunction of mitochondria and immunity to enhance onset of chronic immune associated diseases, including cardiometabolic and autoimmune disease, cancer and increased susceptibility to infections.
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2020, Journal of Affective DisordersCitation Excerpt :In extreme cases, food insecurity can lead to hunger (Coleman-Jensen et al., 2018, p.), which is associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviors across the life course (Fuller‐Thomson and Shaked, 2009; McIntyre et al., 2013; Stickley et al., 2018). Additionally, food insecurity contributes to poor diet quality (Bergmans et al., 2018)—healthier foods tend to be more expensive than less nutritious options. Both poor diet and nutritional deficiencies can increase risk of death due to suicide (Hibbeln and Gow, 2014)—possibly due to the influence of diet on biological pathways of systemic inflammation (Bergmans et al., 2019).
Examining associations of food insecurity with major depression among older adults in the wake of the Great Recession
2020, Social Science and MedicineCitation Excerpt :SNAP provides a supplemental benefit for households with low-income to purchase food resources from authorized retailers, often via an electronic benefits transfer card that is automatically reloaded each month (Bartfeld et al., 2015). Participation in SNAP has been associated with fewer depressive symptoms and less psychological distress among those with a high risk of food insecurity (Kim and Frongillo, 2007; Oddo and Mabli, 2015; Bergmans et al., 2018a,b). During the Great Recession, SNAP participation rates reached record highs (Pavetti and Rosenbaum, 2010).
R. S. Bergmans is a research fellow, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
M. Palta is a professor, Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin–Madison.
D. B. Ehrenthal is an associate professor, Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin–Madison.
K. M. Malecki is an assistant professor, Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin–Madison.
S. A. Robert is a professor and director, School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin–Madison.
L. M. Berger is a professor, School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin–Madison.
STATEMENT OF POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
FUNDING/SUPPORT Funding that supported R. S. Bergmans’ work on this research comes from the National Institute of Health (NIH) Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Development (NICHD) Training Grant (Demography and Ecology): T32 HD007014. K. M. Malecki’s work on this research was supported by the Center for Demography and Ecology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison (P2C HD047873), the Collaborative Center for Health Equity Administration (WPP3086), the NIH, the National Center for Advancing Translational Science CTSA award UL1TR000427, and the National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities award 1P60MD0003428. None of these funding sources had any role in study design; collection, analysis, or interpretation of data; writing the report; or the decision to submit the report for publication. The other authors have no funding sources to report that supported work on this manuscript.
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS R. S. Bergmans designed this study with contribution from K. M. Malecki. R. S. Bergmans analyzed the data with contribution from K. M. Malecki and M. Palta. R. S. Bergmans interpreted results with contribution from K. M. Malecki, M. Palta, S. A. Robert, L. M. Berger, and D. B. Ehrenthal. R. S. Bergmans wrote the first draft with contribution from K. M. Malecki. All authors contributed to critical revision of subsequent drafts and approved of the final version.