Food Insecurity among Children in Massachusetts
This article focuses on the prevalence among Massachusetts children and families of food insecurity, inadequate access to enough nutritious food for an active and healthy life.
SNAP Cuts Will Harm Children in the USA
Children’s HealthWatch researchers wrote a commentary providing a pediatric research-based opinion on the negative effect of cuts to the Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program (SNAP).
Health of Children Classified as Underweight by CDC Reference but Normal by WHO Standard
The objective of this article was to ascertain measures of health status among 6- to 24-month-old children classified as below normal weight-for-age (underweight) by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2000 growth reference but as normal weight-for-age by the World Health Organization (WHO) 2006 standard. The authors found that children who are reclassified from underweight to normal […]
Are Food Insecurity’s Health Impacts Underestimated in the U.S. Population? Marginal Food Insecurity Also Predicts Adverse Health Outcomes in U.S. Children and Mothers.
This review addresses epidemiological, public health, and social policy implications of categorizing young children and their adult female caregivers in the United States as food secure when they live in households with “marginal food security,” as indicated by the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module. Existing literature shows that households in the US with marginal food security […]
WIC Participation and Attenuation of Stress-Related Child Health Risks of Household Food Insecurity and Caregiver Depressive Symptoms
This article examined how family stressors relate to child health and how participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), attenuated health risks. In a sample of 26,950 WIC eligible caregivers with young children, the authors found that as stressors increased the odds of child fair/poor health, hospitalizations and developmental […]
Household Hardships, Public Programs, and Their Association with the Health and Development of Very Young Children: Insights from Children’s HealthWatch
Many research and advocacy groups use econometrics and/or biostatistics to explore the health and educational effects of food insecurity. Children’s HealthWatch (formerly known as the Children’s Sentinel Nutrition Assessment Program or C-SNAP) is one such group. Children’s HealthWatch was founded in 1998 to bring evidence and analysis from the front lines of pediatric care to policy […]
US Housing Insecurity and the Health of Very Young Children
This article investigated the association between housing insecurity and the health of very young children. Housing insecurity indicators were defined as crowded (>2 people/bedroom or >1 family/residence) and multiple moves (≥ 2 moves within the previous year). Crowding and multiple moves was associated with household and child food security and the multiple moves indicator was […]
Cumulative Hardship and Wellness of Low-Income, Young Children: Multisite Surveillance Study
This article shows that the level of a novel cumulative index of 3 prevalent hardships (food, housing, and energy insecurity) is a robust predictor of the health and development of children 4 to 36 months of age. In a sample size of 7,141 participants, 37% reported no material hardship, 57% moderate hardship, and 6% severe […]
Development and Validity of a 2-Item Screen to Identify Families at Risk for Food Insecurity
This article develops a brief screen to identify families at risk for food insecurity (FI) and evaluates the sensitivity, specificity, and convergent validity of the screen. In a sample of 30,098 families, 23% were food insecure. The Household Food Security Survey questions 1 and 2 were the most frequently endorsed among food-insecure families (92.5% and 89.1% respectively). A […]
Household food insecurity is a risk factor for iron-deficiency anemia in a multi-ethnic, low-income sample of infants and toddlers
This article examines the relationships of household food security status with Fe deficiency (ID) and Fe-deficiency anaemia (IDA) among children less than 3 years of age, and associated factors that contribute to ID and IDA. In a sample of 2,853 low income children aged <36 months, those from households with very low food security (VLFS) were […]