Nutr Res Pract.  2015 Aug;9(4):425-432. 10.4162/nrp.2015.9.4.425.

Associations between food insecurity and healthy behaviors among Korean adults

• Chun IA
• Ryu SY
• Park J
• Ro HK
• Han MA

• KMID: 2313861
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4162/nrp.2015.9.4.425

Abstract

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES
Food insecurity has been suggested as being negatively associated with healthy behaviors and health status. This study was performed to identify the associations between food insecurity and healthy behaviors among Korean adults.
SUBJECTS/METHODS
The data used were the 2011 Community Health Survey, cross-sectional representative samples of 253 communities in Korea. Food insecurity was defined as when participants reported that their family sometimes or often did not get enough food to eat in the past year. Healthy behaviors were considered as non-smoking, non-high risk drinking, participation in physical activities, eating a regular breakfast, and maintaining a normal weight. Multiple logistic regression and multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to identify the association between food insecurity and healthy behaviors.
RESULTS
The prevalence of food insecurity was 4.4% (men 3.9%, women 4.9%). Men with food insecurity had lower odds ratios (ORs) for non-smoking, 0.75 (95% CI: 0.68-0.82), participation in physical activities, 0.82 (95% CI: 0.76-0.90), and eating a regular breakfast, 0.66 (95% CI: 0.59-0.74), whereas they had a higher OR for maintaining a normal weight, 1.19 (95% CI: 1.09-1.30), than men with food security. Women with food insecurity had lower ORs for non-smoking, 0.77 (95% CI: 0.66-0.89), and eating a regular breakfast, 0.79 (95% CI: 0.72-0.88). For men, ORs for obesity were 0.78 (95% CI: 0.70-0.87) for overweight and 0.56 (95% CI: 0.39-0.82) for mild obesity. For women, the OR for moderate obesity was 2.04 (95% CI: 1.14-3.63) as compared with normal weight.
CONCLUSIONS
Food insecurity has a different impact on healthy behaviors. Provision of coping strategies for food insecurity might be critical to improve healthy behaviors among the population.

Keyword

Food insecurity; Healthy behaviors; Korean adults; Obesity

MeSH Terms

Adult*
Breakfast
Drinking
Eating
Female
Food Supply*
Health Surveys
Humans
Korea
Logistic Models
Male
Motor Activity
Obesity
Odds Ratio
Overweight
Prevalence

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