IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aph/ajpbhl/10.2105-ajph.2011.300551_9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The association between food insecurity and inflammation in the US adult population

Author

Listed:
  • Gowda, C.
  • Hadley, C.
  • Aiello, A.E.

Abstract

Objectives. To expand the understanding of potential pathways through which food insecurity is associated with adverse health outcomes, we investigated whether food insecurity is associated with nutritional levels, inflammatory response, and altered immune function. Methods. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2006) with 12 191 participants. We assessed food insecurity using the US Department of Agriculture food security scale module and measured clinical biomarkers from blood samples obtained during participants' visits to mobile examination centers. Results. Of the study population, 21.5% was food insecure. Food insecurity was associated with higher levels of C-reactive protein (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.21; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.04, 1.40) and of white blood cell count (AOR = 1.36; 95% CI = 1.11, 1.67). White blood cell count partly mediated the association between food insecurity and C-reactive protein. Conclusions. These findings show that food insecurity is associated with increased inflammation, a correlate of chronic diseases. Immune response also appears to be a potential mediator in this pathway.

Suggested Citation

  • Gowda, C. & Hadley, C. & Aiello, A.E., 2012. "The association between food insecurity and inflammation in the US adult population," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 102(8), pages 1579-1586.
  • Handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2011.300551_9
    DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2011.300551
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300551
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300551?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Atuoye, Kilian Nasung & Luginaah, Isaac, 2017. "Food as a social determinant of mental health among household heads in the Upper West Region of Ghana," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 170-180.
    2. Michael F. Royer, 2024. "The Folly of Food Waste amidst Food Insecurity in the United States: A Literature Review," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-17, April.
    3. Doua Ahmed & Pierina Benavente & Esperanza Diaz, 2023. "Food Insecurity among International Migrants during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(7), pages 1-14, March.
    4. Garima Rautela & Mohammed K. Ali & Dorairaj Prabhakaran & K.M. Venkat Narayan & Nikhil Tandon & Viswanathan Mohan & Lindsay M. Jaacks, 2020. "Prevalence and correlates of household food insecurity in Delhi and Chennai, India," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(2), pages 391-404, April.
    5. Tamargo, Javier A. & Cruz-Almeida, Yenisel, 2024. "Food insecurity and epigenetic aging in middle-aged and older adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 350(C).
    6. Nicole Sirotin & Donald R Hoover & Qiuhu Shi & Kathryn Anastos & Sheri D Weiser, 2014. "Food Insecurity with Hunger Is Associated with Obesity among HIV-Infected and at Risk Women in Bronx, NY," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(8), pages 1-6, August.
    7. Marta Castrica & Egon Andoni & India Intraina & Giulio Curone & Emma Copelotti & Francesca Romana Massacci & Valentina Terio & Silvia Colombo & Claudia Maria Balzaretti, 2021. "Prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. in Different Ready to Eat Foods from Large Retailers and Canteens over a 2-Year Period in Northern Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-11, October.
    8. Cinthya G. Caamal-Olvera & Julio César Arteaga García, 2021. "Initial Management of COVID-19 Outbreak in Mexico," Remef - Revista Mexicana de Economía y Finanzas Nueva Época REMEF (The Mexican Journal of Economics and Finance), Instituto Mexicano de Ejecutivos de Finanzas, IMEF, vol. 16(3), pages 1-22, Julio - S.
    9. Ourega-Zoé Ejebu & Stephen Whybrow & Lynda Mckenzie & Elizabeth Dowler & Ada L Garcia & Anne Ludbrook & Karen Louise Barton & Wendy Louise Wrieden & Flora Douglas, 2018. "What can Secondary Data Tell Us about Household Food Insecurity in a High-Income Country Context?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-17, December.
    10. Michael F. Royer & Christopher Wharton, 2023. "The FINDING-Food Intervention: A Mixed-Methods Feasibility Study Addressing Food Insecurity," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-18, October.
    11. Wu, Qiong & Harwood, Robin L. & Feng, Xin, 2018. "Family socioeconomic status and maternal depressive symptoms: Mediation through household food insecurity across five years," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 1-6.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2011.300551_9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Christopher F Baum (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.apha.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.