Longitudinal Associations of Food Security with Health and Dietary Factors among Food FARMacy Participants during COVID-19 in New York City

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 16; no. 3; p. 434
• Main Authors: Woo Baidal, Jennifer, Finkel, Morgan A, Kelman, Elizabeth, Duong, Ngoc, Bien-Aime, Celine, Goldsmith, Jeff, Albrecht, Sandra S, Hulse, Emma, Rosenthal, Alyson, Reiss, Jeremy, Schwartz, Rachel, Meyer, Dodi, On Behalf Of The Herald Collaborative
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-02-2024
• Subjects: Adult; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Data collection; Diet; emergency food assistance; Ethnicity; Food; Food Assistance; food insecurity; food pantry; Food relief; Food Security; Food Supply; Fruit; Health aspects; Health care; Hispanic Americans; Households; Humans; International aspects; Longitudinal studies; Mediation; Medical referrals; New York City - epidemiology; Nutrition; Pandemics; Public health; Regression analysis; Self report; Type 2 diabetes; Variables; Vegetables; New York City; United States > US; New York City New York; COVID-19; food pantry; emergency food assistance; food insecurity
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu16030434

In cross-sectional studies, food insecurity is associated with adverse health and dietary outcomes. Whether self-reported health and dietary outcomes change in response to improvements in food security has not been examined. We sought to examine how increases in food security are related to changes in health and dietary factors. In this longitudinal, observational study, we included adult participants in a clinical-community emergency food assistance program in New York City from July 2020 to November 2021. Program staff measured food security with a validated six-item measure at program enrollment and six-month re-enrollment. Participants self-reported health and dietary factors (vegetable, fruit, juice, and sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption frequency). We used multivariable regression to examine associations between change in food security with change in health and dietary factors over six months. Among 310 participants, the mean food security score improved by 1.7 ± 2.3 points over six months. In unadjusted models, each point improvement in food security was associated with increased vegetable (
= 0.10 times; 95% CI: 0.05-0.15); fruit (
= 0.08 times; 95% CI: 0.03-0.14); and juice (
= 0.10 times; 95% CI: 0.05-0.15) consumption. In adjusted models, results remained significant for vegetable and fruit consumption, but not juice. Change in food security was not associated with change in health or SSB outcomes. In this cohort during COVID-19, improved food security was associated with improved vegetable and fruit consumption. Randomized trials that examine the effectiveness of clinical-community partnerships focused on improving food security and nutrition are warranted.