Stanley Adam K, Hadi Yasir, Newbold David, Heuvelman Hein, Krige Anton
East Lancashire NHS Hospitals Trust, Blackburn, UK.
Edge Hill University, Liverpool, UK.
J Health Popul Nutr. 2025 Feb 28;44(1):53. doi: 10.1186/s41043-025-00801-w.
Nutrition plays a significant role in non-communicable disease worldwide and is a modifiable risk factor. Food security is defined as the ability of a household or individual to afford and access sufficient healthy and nutritious food. Food insecurity rates in the UK are among the worst in Europe and rising food prices have disproportionately affected lower income households. We aimed to identify predictors for food insecurity in England using nationally representative data.
We conducted a database analysis on data collected in the 'Food and You 2: Wave 6' public cross-sectional dataset. Data were analysed from a mixed survey, collating 3,033 responses to the United Stated Department of Agriculture Household Food Security Survey Module, which defined food security status. We calculated risk ratios (RR) for food insecurity in relation to each independent variable, including sex, respondent age group, household size, presence of children in household, income, employment status, urban/rural living status, ethnicity, chronic conditions and Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD).
72.3% (n = 2,194) were food secure, 23.4% (n = 710) were food-insecure. Variables associated with increased food insecurity risk included all respondent age groups below 65 year old, household size of 5 or more, presence of children under 16 years and under 6 years, household income less than £64,000 per annum, unemployed individuals, students, Asian / Asian British and African / African British ethnicities, presence of one or more chronic conditions and IMD of 1.
In this analysis of nationally representative data, age, household size, presence of children, income, employment status, ethnicity and IMD were all associated with significantly increased risk for food insecurity. Further work is required to understand the relationship between these variables and food security in order to develop screening tools to identify those at highest risk of food insecurity in the population. This will help facilitate the effective provision of support to those who need it the most.
营养在全球非传染性疾病中起着重要作用，是一个可改变的风险因素。粮食安全被定义为家庭或个人有能力负担并获得足够的健康和营养食品。英国的粮食不安全率在欧洲处于最差水平之一，食品价格上涨对低收入家庭产生了不成比例的影响。我们旨在利用具有全国代表性的数据确定英格兰粮食不安全的预测因素。
我们对“食物与你2：第6波”公共横断面数据集中收集的数据进行了数据库分析。数据来自一项混合调查，整理了对美国农业部家庭粮食安全调查模块的3033份回复，该模块定义了粮食安全状况。我们计算了与每个自变量相关的粮食不安全风险比率（RR），这些自变量包括性别、受访者年龄组、家庭规模、家庭中是否有儿童、收入、就业状况、城乡居住状况、种族、慢性病和多重贫困指数（IMD）。
72.3%（n = 2194）的人粮食安全，23.4%（n = 710）的人粮食不安全。与粮食不安全风险增加相关的变量包括所有65岁以下的受访者年龄组、家庭规模为5人或更多、有16岁以下和6岁以下儿童、家庭年收入低于64000英镑、失业者、学生、亚洲/亚裔英国人和非洲/非裔英国人种族、有一个或多个慢性病以及IMD为1。
在这项对具有全国代表性数据的分析中，年龄、家庭规模、儿童的存在、收入、就业状况、种族和IMD均与粮食不安全风险显著增加相关。需要进一步开展工作来了解这些变量与粮食安全之间的关系，以便开发筛查工具，识别出人群中粮食不安全风险最高的那些人。这将有助于为最需要帮助的人有效提供支持。
