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Food Insecurity: Determinants and Impacts

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Sustainable Nutrition in a Changing World

Abstract

This chapter reviews studies examining food security on a household level in developed countries. It focuses on two issues: the individual determinants of food insecurity, and the impact of food insecurity on health. On the first issue, reflecting a wide variety of situations depending on the country and the population sample under consideration, this chapter examines the relevant socio-demographic and socio-economic variables, as well as the cultural factors associated with food insecurity. Despite their great heterogeneity, the studies examined show that the group of factors significantly linked to food insecurity generally overlap with poverty indicators such as income and standard-of-living indicators or the determinants of poverty. One very robust finding concerns the link between a lack of academic or professional qualifications and food insecurity. Despite this, poverty and food insecurity cannot be equated. Concerning the issue of the relationship between food insecurity and health, most studies are cross-sectional studies of the general population in English-speaking countries. Reviewing the impact on children’s health, adult health, diet and nutritional intake, and weight status, findings converge to show that food insecurity is associated with poor health at all ages. They show the importance of taking action to improve the situation of homes suffering from this multifaceted trend.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    1. Fear of shortage of money for food/ 2. Shortage of money for food/ 3. Shortage of food through lack of money/ 4. Buying cheap food/ 5. Shortage of food for at least 1 day.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Human Nutrition Division, INRA 1110, CIRAD, SupAgro, CIHEAM-IAMM, Montpellier, France

    Nicole Darmon

  2. ALISS, INRA 1303, 65 Boulevard de Brandebourg, 94205, Ivry-Sur-Seine, France

    France Caillavet

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universität Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

    Hans Konrad Biesalski

  2. Nutritional Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Adam Drewnowski

  3. Tufts Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Johanna T. Dwyer

  4. Northern Irerland Centre for Food a, University of Ulster Northern Irerland Centre for Food a, Coleraine, United Kingdom

    JJ Strain

  5. DSM Nutritional Products Europe Ltd. , Kaiseraugst, Switzerland

    Peter Weber

  6. DSM Nutritional Products Europe Ltd. , Kaiseraugst, Switzerland

    Manfred Eggersdorfer

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Darmon, N., Caillavet, F. (2017). Food Insecurity: Determinants and Impacts. In: Biesalski, H., Drewnowski, A., Dwyer, J., Strain, J., Weber, P., Eggersdorfer, M. (eds) Sustainable Nutrition in a Changing World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55942-1_9

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