Suitability of the eight-item version of the Brazilian Household Food Insecurity Measurement Scale to identify risk groups: evidence from a nationwide representative sample

[Food insecurity and household water insecurity: a population-based study in a municipality in the Amazon River basin, Brazil]

This study analyzed food insecurity and associated factors in the urban area of a municipality in the Amazon River basin, Western Amazon. This is a cross-sectional population-based study conducted from August to November 2021 with 983 households selected by stratified probability sampling. A multinomial logistic regression model was used, adopting the following criteria: p-value < 20% in the bivariate analysis and p-value < 5% for the multivariate adjustment. The results of the analyses were described as odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95%CI). The following variables were significantly associated with mild or moderate food insecurity: household water insecurity; number of residents ≥ 5 in the household; belonging to socioeconomic class D or E; having a father, mother or another as the head of the family; and having any resident as a beneficiary of the Brazilian Income Transfer Program. The analysis model for severe food insecurity showed that living with household water insecurity; belonging to socioeconomic class D or E; having a father, mother or another as the head of the family; age of the head of the family < 55 years; and family income lower that two minimum wages increased the chances of severe food insecurity when compared to those with food security. In conclusion, this study found a high prevalence of food insecurity in the Municipality of Itapiranga, State of Amazonas, North Region of Brazil, associated with social and economic vulnerability, lack of public services, and household water insecurity.

Poverty-Food Insecurity Nexus in the Post-Construction Context of a Large Hydropower Dam in the Brazilian Amazon

Within the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, large hydropower dams are positioned as a sustainable energy source, notwithstanding their adverse impacts on societies and ecosystems. This study contributed to ongoing discussions about the persistence of critical social issues, even after the investments of large amounts of resources in areas impacted by the construction of large hydropower dams. Our study focused on food insecurity and evaluated this issue in the city of Altamira in the Brazilian Amazon, which has been profoundly socially and economically impacted by the construction, between 2011 and 2015, of Brazil's second-largest dam, namely, Belo Monte. A survey in Altamira city featured a 500-household random sample. Structural equation modeling showed conditioning factors of 60% of the population experiencing varying food insecurity degrees. Poverty, female-led households, lower education, youth, and unemployment were strongly linked to higher food insecurity. Crowded, officially impacted, and resettled households also faced heightened food insecurity. Our findings underscore the food insecurity conditions in the region impacted by the Belo Monte dam, emphasizing the need to take into account this crucial issue while planning and implementing hydropower dams.

Biodiversity is overlooked in the diets of different social groups in Brazil

Food biodiversity is essential for improving nutrition and reducing hunger in populations worldwide. However, in middle and low-income countries, the biodiversity of food production does not necessarily represent food consumption patterns by population. We used Brazil, one of the world's megabiodiverse countries, as a case study to investigate the following questions: what is the prevalence of consumption of biodiverse foods in Brazil, and what are the socioeconomic factors that influence their consumption throughout the country? We used data from a Brazilian representative national dietary survey to estimate the frequency of food consumption of unconventional food plants, edible mushrooms, and wild meat, in according to socioeconomic variables. Thus, we investigated the socioeconomic predictors of Unconventional Food Plants consumption using methods of Machine Learning (ML) and multiple zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) regression. We showed that biodiverse food consumption in Brazil is low, just related by 1.3% of the population, varying in according to area, ethnicity, age, food insecurity, sex, and educational level. Our findings of low utilization of biodiversity suggest an important mismatch between the rich biodiversity of the country and its representation in the human diet.

Food insecurity in a Brazilian transgender sample during the COVID-19 pandemic

Transgender people often live with social vulnerability, largely promoted by gender-based prejudice. Our aim in this article was to raise preliminary data on how the COVID-19 pandemic and perceived prejudice have contributed to the problem of food and food insecurity in the transgender communities in Brazil. We conducted a web-based cross-sectional study, in which 109 transgender people from all regions of Brazil participated. We used the Chi-Square test and Poisson regression modeling with robust variance to estimate the association between food insecurity and the investigated factors. In our sample, 68.8% of transgender people experienced food insecurity, of these, 20.2% experienced severe food insecurity. Our results showed that the difficulties in purchasing food in the transgender community predate the COVID-19 pandemic, yet that the restrictive measures adopted have also impacted overall access to quality food. However, the main explanations for food insecurity were income and employment. In predicting food insecurity, the experiences of prejudice must be considered, and give rise to the hypothesis that specific conditions to which transgender people are exposed explain, to some degree, their vulnerability to food insecurity.

Brumadinho Health Project: food and nutrition insecurity versus socioeconomic statuses and dimensions of the food system after the dam rupture

OBJECTIVE

To describe the situation of food insecurity of families according to the socioeconomic characteristics and dimensions of the food system in Brumadinho, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, after the dam rupture in Córrego do Feijão mine.

METHODS

This is a descriptive study focused on households carried out from the baseline of the Brumadinho Health Project. Food insecurity, the main outcome, was assessed by the short version of the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale. Other investigated variables were: socioeconomic data; geographic stratum of the households; family's assets; income; expenses; cultivation of food and animal husbandry for consumption. Descriptive analyses were performed comparing the food insecurity of the household according to the other variables by the χ2 test to compare the proportions.

RESULTS

Of the investigated households (n=1,441), 35.1% were facing food insecurity. facing food insecurity had: lower prevalence of masonry households with coating (91.4%; 95%CI 87.7%-94.1% vs. 96.7%; 95%CI 94.9%-97.8%); highest proportion of rudimentary cesspit (16.9%; 95%CI 13.3%-21.2% vs. 9.4%; 95%CI 7.4-11.9); lower prevalence of own and paid-off homes (63.9%; 95%CI 56.8-70.5 vs. 77.3%; 95%CI 72.3-81.7); and income reduction after the dam rupture (33.0%; 95%CI 27.1-39.6 vs. 14.1%; 95%CI 11.2-17.6), when compared with those in a food security situation.

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of food insecurity was high, with report of a reduction in household income after the dam rupture. Moreover, most of the households had worse structural quality and sewage outfall. These results evidence the vulnerability of families and possible violation of the human right to adequate food, denoting the urgency of continuous reparative actions.

Psychometric properties of a modified version of Brazilian household food insecurity measurement scale - Pró-Saúde study

We present results of initial steps of the psychometric evaluation of a proposed modified version of the Brazilian Household Food Insecurity Measurement Scale aimed at assessing adults' recall of food insecurity at age 12. Data were obtained through self-administered questionnaires from civil servants at university campuses in Rio de Janeiro, who participated in the first and fourth waves of the longitudinal Pró-Saúde Study. We evaluated test-retest reliability (n=58), internal consistency, factor structure, convergent, discriminant validity (n=3,253). Test-retest reliability kappa coefficients were above 0.65; Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.84. Factor loadings were above 0.800. The composite reliability was above 0.90. The square root values of the Average Variance Extracted were positive and statistically significant. Household food insecurity during childhood was strongly associated with larger family size and several sociodemographic conditions at age 12: female head of household, residence in rural area or small town, worse standard of living, and insufficient food due to lack of money. This initial evaluation suggests good performance. Further investigation should include additional psychometric properties and other population contexts.

The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) in Adolescents: Using a Model-Based Approach to Identify Patterns of Alcohol Misuse

To explore the latent structure of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) among adolescents of different school grades (age strata). Methods: Data derived from two simultaneous run cohort studies from the "Adolescent Nutritional Assessment Longitudinal Study-ELANA" conducted in private and public schools of Rio de Janeiro/Brazil. Participants comprised 564 seventh-graders and 419 ninth-graders, respectively sampled in 2011 and 2013 from cohort 1, and 730 eleventh-graders sampled in 2011 from cohort 2. Latent class factor analytical (LCFA) models were applied to the AUDIT items to identify internally homogeneous latent groups of individuals representing distinct patterns of alcohol use, and optimal group-separating cutoffs. The classification agreement was also evaluated. Results: Three and two groups (classes) were found for the eleventh and the earlier grades, respectively. These best-fitting models held a very high degree of class separation (entropy >0.9). By contrasting the AUDIT's raw scores (0-10) with the model-based latent classes, the cutoff separating the base (milder) category was found between scores 0 and 1 in all grades. The eleventh-graders differed from the others by showing a third and more intense category of alcohol use (cutoff between 4 and 5). The classification agreement was almost perfect in eleventh-graders (98.6%) and perfect in the earlier grades (100%). Conclusions: Findings show that the AUDIT may be adequately used in adolescents of different ages and school grades, although the number of homogeneous categories may differ accordingly. Besides, raw scores may be pragmatically used to identify groups with confidence by applying specific optimal cutoffs.