Sandy Vongthong

Sandy Vongthong 504 (words)

 

The article I read was called "Food Insecurity is Associated with Increased Risk of Obesity in California Women" by Elizabeth J. Adams, Laurence Grummer-Strawn and Gilbert Chavez. The research was conducted in 1998 and 1999 by California Women's Health Survey consisting of 8169 women the ages of 18 and above. For the research study, researchers conducted a random digit dialing phone interviews where the participants were asked a series of questions regarding income, race/ethnic city, education, country of birth, and general health status. In addition to these questions other variables included body mass index, city blocked walked, and food security or insecurity with and without hunger.

 

Important findings included:

 

·      1/5 of the 8,169 women study were obese.

 ·      31% of women who were obese was food insecure.

 ·      Food insecurity is associated with increased likelihood of obesity and risk      is greater among non-whites.

·      18.8% of women have an income below poverty line.

 ·      Overall 13.9% of women surveyed were food insecure without hunger.

 

Interesting findings about the article was the fact that obesity was associated with women consuming foods with high in calories and little nutritional value. As you have mentioned in class this type of diet is called food insecurity. For me, this was interesting as I was not aware of this being food insecure. During our group discussion, we discussed different contributions of obesity in our society. Fast food was among one of the topics that came up, and someone mentioned how it was cheap and convenient. Another classmate mentioned the media plays the role it plays in priming our brains in making decisions about food. Overall, the article was a good read and I feel as if I have gained some knowledge on the topic of food insecurity among women and the link it has with obesity.

Work Citied:

Adams, E. , Adams, . , Grummer-Strawn, L. , & Chavez, G. (2003). Food Insecurity is Associated with Increased Risk of Obesity in California Women. The Journal of Nutrition, 133(4), 1070.

For my second article, I read the article "A Decade of Change Measuring that Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity" written by Kelly Stamper Balistreri. The article discusses food insecurity among different groups such as Hispanics, Blacks, and Whites. The article compares food insecurity in our economy today to during the time of the Great Recession in 2008. According to the article there has not been much change in food security. The groups most vulnerable to food insecurity were Hispanics and Blacks. Roughly 6.9 American families are food insecure meaning they are inconsistent with foods and this partially due to their access to food and not being able to afford quality foods.

 

Methodology:

The methodology behind the research consisted of an interval study where data was recorded from Current Population Survey and Food Security Supplement. The food insecurity survey was recorded for a decade starting from 2001 to 2013 in 3 different time frames with sample size ranging from 83, 771 to 95,147 (Balistreri, 2016)

 

Results:

Families in America with children have less food security then those without children. The findings suggest that since the Great Recession, our economy has not improved much as far as food security is concerned for families with children. As a matter fact, the disproportion among food unsecured families in America has increased significantly over the years even more so than prior to the Great Recession.

Work Cited:

 Balistreri, K.S. J Fam Econ Iss (2016) 37: 373. doi:10.1007/s10834-016-9500-9