Abstract

Objectives

There has been a rise in the number of overweight women across the globe and sub-Saharan Africa has not been spared. Our objective was to describe the performance of household food security as a factor in determining overweight and underweight among Kenyan women of child-bearing age.

Design

A cross sectional survey using a structured questionnaire was carried out among 656 households with women of child-bearing age from both rural and urban settings in the Rift Valley, Kenya.

Results

Of all households involved, 70.1% were categorized as severely food insecure, 21.9% were moderately food insecure, and 3.7% were mildly food insecure, whereas 4.3% were food secure. Urban women had higher mean BMI (M = 24.53, SD = 4.36), compared to rural women (M = 22.52, SD = 3.71; P <0.000). Households with more children had decreased dietary diversity (r = -0.154; P <0.01). Logistical regression indicated that more food-secure households (OR = 0.97; 95% CI 9.4, 1.0), urban residence (OR = 1.82; 95% CI 1.1, 3.0), older age (OR = 1.10; 95% CI 1.1, 1.5), and high standard of living (OR = 1.79; 95% CI 1.2, 1.5) were strong predictors of overweight while being underweight was predicted by younger age (OR = 0.91; 95% CI, 0.83, 1.0).

Conclusions

A food-secure household does not predict underweight but predicts overweight among women.

Details

Title
Household food insecurity access: a predictor of overweight and underweight among Kenyan women
Author
Keino, Susan 1 ; Plasqui, Guy 2 ; van den Borne, Bart 3 

 Maastricht University, Department of Health Education & Promotion, Faculty of Medicine & Life Sciences, Maastricht, The Netherlands (GRID:grid.5012.6) (ISNI:0000000104816099); Moi University, Department of Epidemiology & Nutrition, School for Public Health, Eldoret, Kenya (GRID:grid.79730.3a) (ISNI:0000000104954256) 
 Maastricht University Medical Centre, Department of Human Biology, School for Nutrition, Toxicology & Metabolism, Maastricht, The Netherlands (GRID:grid.412966.e) 
 Maastricht University, Department of Health Education & Promotion, Faculty of Medicine & Life Sciences, Maastricht, The Netherlands (GRID:grid.5012.6) (ISNI:0000000104816099) 
Pages
2
Publication year
2014
Publication date
Dec 2014
Publisher
Springer Nature B.V.
e-ISSN
20487010
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2780145334
Copyright
© Keino et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.