Relationship of food insecurity to women's dietary outcomes: a systematic review. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • CONTEXT: Food insecurity matters for women's nutrition and health. OBJECTIVE: This review sought to comprehensively evaluate how food insecurity relates to a full range of dietary outcomes (food groups, total energy, macronutrients, micronutrients, and overall dietary quality) among adult women living in Canada and the United States. DATA SOURCES: Peer-reviewed databases (PubMed/MEDLINE, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science) and gray literature sources from 1995 to 2016 were searched. DATA EXTRACTION: Observational studies were used to calculate a percentage difference in dietary intake for food-insecure and food-secure groups. RESULTS: Of the 24 included studies, the majority found food-insecure women had lower food group frequencies (dairy, total fruits and vegetables, total grains, and meats/meat alternatives) and intakes of macro- and micronutrients relative to food-secure women. Methodological quality varied. Among high-quality studies, food insecurity was negatively associated with dairy, fruits and vegetables, grains, meats/meats alternatives, protein, total fat, calcium, iron, magnesium, vitamins A and C, and folate. CONCLUSIONS: Results hold practical relevance for selecting nutritional targets in programs, particularly for nutrient-rich foods with iron and folate, which are more important for women's health.

published proceedings

  • Nutr Rev

altmetric score

  • 193.55

author list (cited authors)

  • Johnson, C. M., Sharkey, J. R., Lackey, M. J., Adair, L. S., Aiello, A. E., Bowen, S. K., ... Ammerman, A. S.

citation count

  • 32

complete list of authors

  • Johnson, Cassandra M||Sharkey, Joseph R||Lackey, Mellanye J||Adair, Linda S||Aiello, Allison E||Bowen, Sarah K||Fang, Wei||Flax, Valerie L||Ammerman, Alice S

publication date

  • December 2018