Changing from a highly food secure household to a marginal or food insecure household is associated with decreased weight and body mass index z-scores among Latino children from CHAMACOS

Ryan J Gamba; Brenda Eskenazi; Kristine Madsen; Alan Hubbard; Kim Harley; Barbara A Laraia

doi:10.1111/ijpo.12762

Changing from a highly food secure household to a marginal or food insecure household is associated with decreased weight and body mass index z-scores among Latino children from CHAMACOS

Pediatr Obes. 2021 Jul;16(7):e12762. doi: 10.1111/ijpo.12762. Epub 2021 Jan 4.

Authors

Ryan J Gamba¹, Brenda Eskenazi², Kristine Madsen³, Alan Hubbard⁴, Kim Harley⁵, Barbara A Laraia³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Health Sciences, California State University East Bay, Hayward, California, USA.
² Director, Center for Children's Environmental Health Research, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA.
³ Division of Community Health Sciences, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA.
⁴ Division of Biostatistics, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA.
⁵ Center for Environmental Research and Children's Health (CERCH), School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA.

PMID: 33394569
DOI: 10.1111/ijpo.12762

Abstract

Background: Persistent household food insecurity may have a greater adverse effect on children's health outcomes than experiencing household food insecurity for a shorter duration.

Objectives: Examine how changing household food security status and prolonged exposure to household marginal food security or food insecurity are associated with changes in children's growth from age 5 to 12.

Methods: We analyzed 204 mother-child dyads from the Center for Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas (CHAMACOS), a longitudinal birth cohort study of Latino households. Generalized estimating equations assessed how changing household food security status and persistent exposure to marginal food security or food insecurity were associated with growth throughout childhood.

Results: Living in a marginally food secure of food insecure household compared to highly food secure household was associated with a decrease in BMI z-score of 0.18 (0.09, 0.26) between age 9 and 10.5. Changing from a highly food secure household to a marginally food secure or food insecure household was associated with a 0.10 (0.01, 0.20) decrease in body mass index z-score compared to those who persistently lived in highly food secure households.

Conclusions: Changes in food security status and duration of food insecurity were associated with changes in children's growth.

Keywords: BMI; Latino; food insecurity; obesity.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Body Mass Index
Child
Child, Preschool
Cohort Studies
Female
Food Supply*
Hispanic or Latino*
Humans
Mothers

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding