Children in food-insufficient, low-income families - Prevalence, health, and nutrition status

Objective: To examine characteristics of US children living in food-insuffi cient households and to compare food and nutrient intakes, physical inactiv ity, and overweight and underweight status of children in food-insufficient households with those in food-sufficient households. Design: Cross-sectional, nationally representative sample of children and h ouseholds from the Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals, from 1 994 to 1996. Participants: a group of 3790 households, including 5669 children (ages 0-1 7 years). Main Outcome Measure(b): Estimates of food insufficiency for children were based on the reported adequacy of their households, described as "often don 't have enough to eat" or "sometimes don't have enough to eat." Nutrient co nsumption was based on two 24-hour dietary recalls from in-person interview s. Results: Three percent of all households with children, and 7.5% of low-inc ome families with children experienced food insufficiency. Several demograp hic and characteristic differences were observed between the food-sufficien t and food-insufficient low-income groups. Children of low-income families, either food-sufficient or food-insufficient, had similar macrconutrient an d micronutrient intake, reported exercise, television watching, and percent age of overweight and underweight. When compared with the higher-income foo d-sufficient households, children in the low-income food-insufficient house holds consumed fewer calories (P=.05) and total carbohydrates (P=.004), but had a higher cholesterol intake (P=.02). The low-income food-insufficient group included more overweight children (P=.04), consumed less fruits (P=.0 4), and spent more time watching television (P=.02). Conclusions: While not different from low-income families who do not report food insufficiency, low-income families with food insufficiency had childr en who differed from high-income families in several nutrition and anthropo metric measures. Clinicians should be aware of the possible effects of pove rty and lack of access to food on child health and nutrition status. The lo ng-term effects of these are not vet known.