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Food security and women's BMI in households with and without children
Author(s) -
Radimer Kathy,
Gu Qiuping,
Ogden Cynthia
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.5.a169
Subject(s) - underweight , overweight , food security , obesity , odds , odds ratio , marital status , medicine , demography , poverty , environmental health , ethnic group , body mass index , logistic regression , geography , population , economics , endocrinology , political science , archaeology , pathology , sociology , economic growth , law , agriculture
Household food security has been associated with BMI in women, particularly in relation to level of food security. In previous analyses, we noted associations of marginal food security with overweight or obesity, and associations of food insecurity with hunger with underweight. We now investigate whether the association of BMI and food security differs in households with and without children using NHANES 1999–2002 data. Our multivariable model included age, education, income to poverty ratio, race/ethnicity, and marital status, with BMI (4 categories) and food security (4 categories). In “food insecure with hunger” households, women without children had significantly higher odds of both underweight (5.47 (1.25–23.9)) and overweight (2.20 (1.30–3.71)). Odds were also elevated for women with children, but confidence limits did not exclude one. There was no association with obesity. In “food insecure without hunger” households, both women with children and women without children had significantly higher odds of obesity (1.88 (1.01–3.49)) and (2.17 (1.10–4.30)), respectively. Similarly, both women with and without children in marginally food secure households had significantly higher odds of obesity (1.72 (1.08–2.74) and (2.35 (1.13–4.89)), respectively. These data suggest that the presence of children in a household does not affect the association of food security status and a woman's weight.