RELATIONSHIP OF HUNGER AND FOOD INSECURITY TO FOOD AVAILABILITY AND CONSUMPTION

Objective To describe the relationship of new measures of hunger and f ood insecurity to household food supplies and individual food and nutr ient intake. Design and Setting A questionnaire containing the Radimer /Cornell hunger and food insecurity items and questions on eating patt erns and the frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption was administ ered to subjects during a personal interview in their homes. A 24-hour diet recall and a household food inventory were conducted at the init ial interview and at a follow-up visit. Subjects Participants were 193 women drawn from a random sample of 308 women who had completed a pre vious health census in a rural New York State county. Subjects' ages r anged from 15 to 40 years. All had children living at home and less th an 16 years of education. Statistical analyses Regression analysis was used to test for linear trends across food insecurity groups for the household food inventory scores and for the frequency of consumption o f fruits and vegetables. t Tests were used to assess differences betwe en the food secure and food insecure groups for nutrient and food grou p means. A chi(2) test for trend was used to examine differences in th e distribution of nutrient and fruit and vegetable intake between the food secure and food insecure groups. Results A significant decrease i n the frequency of consumption of fruits and vegetables and the amount of food in the household and a significant increase in scores indicat ive of disordered eating patterns were associated with a worsening of food insecurity status. Potassium and fiber intake and fruit consumpti on differed significantly between the food secure and food insecure gr oups. The percentage of respondents consuming less than the Recommende d Dietary Allowance for vitamin C and fewer than Eve fruits and vegeta bles per day was significantly greater among food insecure respondents than food secure respondents. Applications/conclusions The quantity o f food available in households and consumption of fruits and vegetable s decreased with increasingly severe problems with food insecurity and hunger. In this rural population, the Radimer/Cornell measures were u seful in identifying households experiencing food insecurity and provi ding information about the nature of the food supply and the dietary i ntake problems experienced by food insecure households and persons, su ggesting that these measures may be useful on community surveys design ed to examine food insecurity issues.