Interrelationship between food security status, home availability of variety of fruits and vegetables and their dietary intake among low-income pregnant women.
Public Health Nutr 2017;
21:807-815. [PMID:
29125093 DOI:
10.1017/s1368980017003032]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
To (i) determine differences in the availability of variety of fruits and vegetables (F&V) at home by food security status; and (ii) examine the inter-associations between food security status, availability of variety of F&V at home and frequency of F&V intake, among low-income pregnant women. Design/Setting Participants were interviewed to collect food security status, home availability of variety of F&V and frequency of F&V intake. Bivariate analyses, multivariate regression and exploratory mediation analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics version 23.0 and the PROCESS macro.
SUBJECTS
Low-income pregnant women (n 198) were interviewed if they were ≥18 years of age, in the second trimester of pregnancy, and spoke English or Spanish.
RESULTS
Low/very low food security was found among 43 % of participants. Compared with fully food-secure participants, very low food-secure participants reported a lower variety of fruits (P=0·028) and vegetables (P=0·058) available at home. Mediation analyses indicated that through home availability of variety of fresh F&V, food security status was associated with the daily intake of F&V (indirect effect (95 % CI): fresh fruits, -0·039 (-0·074, -0·013); fresh vegetables, -0·048 (-0·083, -0·023)). As food security worsened, the available variety of fresh F&V decreased, which was associated with lower intake.
CONCLUSIONS
The study highlights the interlink between food security, home food environment and diet quality, and the importance of nutrition education intervention to promote a healthy home food environment and improved pregnancy outcomes among low-income women.
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