Food security and diet quality among urban poor adolescents in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Janice Ee Fang Tay; Satvinder Kaur; Wui Wui Tham; Wan Ying Gan; Nik Norasma Che Ya; Choon Hui Tan; Serene En Hui Tung

doi:10.4162/nrp.2023.17.2.269

Food security and diet quality among urban poor adolescents in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Nutr Res Pract. 2023 Apr;17(2):269-283. doi: 10.4162/nrp.2023.17.2.269. Epub 2022 Oct 6.

Authors

Janice Ee Fang Tay¹, Satvinder Kaur¹, Wui Wui Tham¹, Wan Ying Gan², Nik Norasma Che Ya³, Choon Hui Tan¹, Serene En Hui Tung⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Faculty of Applied Sciences, UCSI University, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia.
² Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia.
³ Department of Agriculture Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia.
⁴ Division of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Sciences, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur 57000, Malaysia.

Abstract

Background/objectives: This study aimed to examine the food security status of urban poor adolescents and its association with diet quality.

Subjects/methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 188 adolescents aged 13-18 yrs living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Household food insecurity and dietary intake data were collected using the Radimer/Cornell hunger and food insecurity instrument and 2-day 24-h dietary recalls, respectively. Diet quality was determined using the Malaysian Healthy Eating Index (HEI). Weight and height were measured and body mass index-for-age, as well as height-for-age z scores were calculated.

Results: The present study revealed that 47.9% of the adolescents experienced household food insecurity, 24.5% experienced individual food insecurity, 18.6% household food security, and 9.0% child hunger. The mean score of diet quality was 56.83 ± 10.09, with a significantly lower HEI score among food insecure adolescents (household food insecure, individual food insecure, and child hunger) than household food secure adolescents (P = 0.001). The differences between food secure and food insecure households were found to be significant for energy (P = 0.001) and nutrients including proteins (P = 0.006), carbohydrates (P = 0.005), dietary fiber (P = 0.001), folate (P < 0.001), and vitamin C (P = 0.006). The multiple linear regression showed that adolescents who experienced food insecurity (β = -0.328; P = 0.003) were found to be significantly associated with poor diet quality (F = 2.726; P < 0.01), wherein 13.3% of the variation in the diet quality was explained by the food security status.

Conclusions: Experiencing food insecurity contributed to poor diet quality among urban poor adolescents. Further longitudinal studies are needed to comprehensively understand this association to improve food insecurity and diet quality among urban poor communities.

Keywords: Food security; adolescent; dietary intake; healthy eating index; low-income population.