Child-Specific Food Insecurity and Overweight Are Not Associated in a Sample of 10- to 15-Year-Old Low-Income Youth
A study of low-income children in three cities has found that “food insecurity” is not strongly associated with being overweight.
Scholars at the Ames, Iowa-based Iowa State University examined data from a 1999 John Hopkins University study of 1,031 children in low-income households in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio to identify problems related to “food security,” defined as whether or not a child has enough food for an active, healthy life.
More than half the children in the study were found to be overweight or at risk of being overweight, but only 8 percent of the total group were found to be having “food security” problems. Of that 8 percent, about a quarter were also overweight or at risk of being overweight.
