This study examined the relationship between food safety, food access, and nutritional status among earthquake victims in Kahramanmaraş and Hatay, Türkiye.

This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted face-to-face with 209 earthquake victims in 2023.

The median age was 42 years, and 52.6% were female. Among women, the perception of unhealthy food, inadequate mass feeding services, and dissatisfaction with meals increased the risk of food safety concerns. In men, those with an associate degree or higher were 20.7 times more likely to perceive food safety as inadequate, while the perception of unhealthy food raised this risk by 12.4 times. Lack of access to sufficient drinking water increased the risk of food inaccessibility by 2.6 times among women. In men, employment and dissatisfaction with meals increased this risk by 2.7 and 2.8 times, respectively. Both genders exhibited inadequate intake of water, energy, protein, polyunsaturated fats, fiber, folate, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, and several vitamins (P <0.05), while phosphorus and sodium levels were elevated (P <0.01).

Food safety and access issues were critical among earthquake victims, significantly impacting nutritional status. Findings emphasize the need for improved emergency food aid and distribution systems to mitigate post-disaster nutritional risks.

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are shown to promote disease. Research shows high UPF intake with food insecurity and SNAP participation. However, no research has quantitatively examined UPF acquisitions (which includes purchases) by food insecurity and SNAP status in US households. This analysis examines food insecurity and SNAP participation with UPF acquisitions for home consumption.

Food insecurity was assessed through the ten-item Adult Food Security Survey. Household SNAP participation was considered affirmative if any member of the household reported receiving SNAP benefits. Household UPF acquisitions/purchases for home consumption (as a percentage of total energy acquired/purchased) were determined by the NOVA classification system. Multivariable linear regressions adjusted for household sociodemographic characteristics quantified associations between food insecurity and SNAP participation with UPF acquisitions for home consumption in US households.

The USA.

3949 households from the National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey.

15·5 % and 13·9 % of US households experienced marginal food security and food insecurity, respectively. Adjusted means for UPF acquisition for home consumption across food security and SNAP categories ranged from 53·2 % to 57·0 %. Marginal food security was associated with 3·8 % higher UPF acquisitions for home consumption (P = 0·0039) compared with households with high food security. However, there was no association with food insecurity or SNAP.

UPF acquisitions for home consumption were high for US households across food security and SNAP categories. Marginal food security was associated with higher UPF acquisitions for home consumption in US households. However, we observed no associations between food insecurity and SNAP participation with UPF acquisitions. More research on drivers of this association for households with marginal food security should be conducted.

A high rate of food insecurity among college students has been documented in various studies. Knowledge gaps exist regarding food insecurity and cultural food access among international college students. We explored the demographic correlations of food insecurity and cultural food access and affordability for international college students.

Cross-sectional online survey from 2 to 16 November 2022.

A public university in the southwestern USA.

Three hundred and thirty-five international undergraduate and graduate students.

About 22 % of the sample reported high food security, 18 % marginal food security, 30 % low food security and 31 % very low food security. Twenty-seven percent reported that they were able to find cultural foods at the university, and 29 % reported that they were able to afford the cultural foods available on campus. Enrolment status, primary caregiver status, housing location and vehicle ownership predicted food security status. Region of origin, gender, being a primary caregiver for an adult with special needs and vehicle ownership were associated with access to cultural foods. Region of origin, being a primary caregiver for children, housing location and vehicle ownership were associated with being able to afford cultural foods on campus. The predictors differ between undergraduate and graduate international students.

Researchers and student services professionals who develop programmes and resources to support international students should consider differences within the group of international students, especially differences by region of origin and degree status (undergraduate v. graduate), and work to ensure students have access to reliable transportation.

Refugees are susceptible to food insecurity. In high-income countries (HIC), settlement workers (SW) provide information, including food security information resources, to newly arrived refugees. Australia has a range of resources, but their use in settlement work is unknown. This study’s aims were to explore SW’s resource use with refugee clients.

This descriptive, qualitative study explored SW’s perceptions regarding resource use. One-on-one interviews, using a semi-structured guide, were conducted. The Technology Acceptance Model’s usage constructs (including Actual Use and Perceived Usefulness) informed the guide and analytical constructs. Under these constructs, emergent usage themes were identified.

Six Australian cities.

Settlement workers.

Fourteen workers were interviewed. Thirteen worked for government-related departments. Most used resources as part of client welcome packs to address acute food insecurity and/or support clinical deficiency issues. Print, pictorial, translated and co-designed resources were perceived to be most useful. Less useful were resources with limited cultural tailoring, translation issues and high literacy demand. There was limited use of digital resources due to variations in clients’ digital access and literacy. Opportunities for improvement include streamlining access, addressing topics such as clinical deficiencies related to food insecurity and increasing culturally nuanced translation.

Development of culturally appropriate resources, facilitating resource access and improved food culture information may help SW better support refugee populations with food security challenges during resettlement in HIC.

To evaluate eligibility and participation in nutrition assistance programmes (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants and Children (WIC)) among transgender and gender diverse (TGD) adults in the USA and to capture their experiences when accessing food benefits.

This was a cross-sectional analysis of the US Transgender Survey (USTS) dataset – the largest survey of TGD adults in the US SNAP and WIC participation and experiences when visiting the public assistance office were reported using descriptive statistics; stratified analyses were conducted based on race using multivariate logistic regression modelling.

The USTS was completed electronically in the USA.

27 715 TGD adults.

Approximately 40·9 % of the full sample were SNAP eligible, yet only 30·6 % of those eligible were receiving the benefit; 0·45 % of the sample reported receiving WIC. TGD adults avoided the public assistance office because they feared being mistreated (3·2 %), were identified as transgender (46·2 %), were denied equal treatment (6·5 %) or were verbally harassed (5·2 %). People of colour were more likely to be denied equal treatment and verbally harassed at the public benefits office than their white peers. The impact of age, education level, employment status, relationship status and census region varied within each racial group.

Far more TGD adults need food assistance compared with the general population, yet fewer are receiving the benefit. Culturally informed interventions are urgently needed to resolve the root causes of food insecurity, increase SNAP participation and address the negative experiences of TGD adults when accessing food benefits.

To describe and evaluate nutrition-related policy, system and environmental (PSE) change strategies implemented in a rural, volunteer-run Georgia food pantry, exploring facilitators and barriers and changes in clients’ perceptions of food distributed following implementation of nutrition-related PSE changes.

The mixed-methods evaluation used pre-post key informant interviews, client surveys and programme documents to assess implementation and outcomes of a nutrition policy and other PSE changes.

Hancock County, Georgia.

Survey respondents were food pantry clients who completed surveys both in January 2021 and March 2022 (n 155). Key informants were programme staff, a local coalition member and food pantry leadership (n 9).

Nutrition-related PSE changes included a nutrition policy, produce procurement partnerships and enhanced refrigeration; an awareness campaign and nutrition education were also conducted. Facilitators included the implementation approach (e.g., encouraging small steps and joint policy development), relationship formation and partnerships. Barriers were modest capacity (e.g., funding and other resources), staffing/volunteers and limited experience with food policy and procurement processes. Client surveys in 2021–2022 showed canned/dried foods as most commonly received, with significant (p < 0.05) increases at follow-up in always receiving meat/poultry/seafood and significant decreases in always receiving canned fruits and dry beans/lentils. In both 2021 and 2022, substantial proportions of respondents reported food insecurity (>60 %), having obesity (>40 %), poor/fair health (>30 %) and a household member with hypertension/high blood pressure (>70 %).

Nutrition-related PSE changes in rural food pantries to improve the healthfulness of foods distributed require substantial resources, yet if sustained, may increase client access to healthy foods and improve diets.

According to the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights, everyone should be entitled to an adequate minimum income sufficient for a healthy diet. Studies show that food insecurity remains a concern in Europe, highlighting the need to determine budgets for adequate nutrition, known as Food Reference Budgets. Previous approaches, based on expert-designed food baskets or focus group discussions, are often limited by their normative nature and/or low representativeness.

To address these problems, this study explores Linear Programming as a novel method to calculate Food Reference Budgets for twenty-six EU member states. To analyse if Linear Programming could be an adequate tool to calculate future Food Reference Budgets, this method was used to design country-specific food baskets that align with consumption habits and healthy diet requirements. The food baskets were then priced at different levels to determine the cost for healthy diets in twenty-six European countries.

Germany.

The calculations are based on consumption data from the EU Household Budget Survey (EU-HBS) from 2015 (2010 for Malta, Portugal and Slovenia). For Germany, data from the national income and consumption survey was used instead, as German data was not included in the EU-HBS.

The results show a positive correlation between optimised healthy and current observed diets for most food groups, indicating that country-specific preferences are reflected in the optimised healthy food baskets. Nevertheless, to meet healthy diet requirements, consumption of vegetables, fruit, fish and dairy must increase compared with the current observed diets. At a lower price level, the Food Reference Budgets ranged from 2·38 to 5·71 €/day, depending on the country. With a low-price level (20th percentile), costs for healthy diet accounted for between 5·74 % of income in Luxembourg and 29·00 % in Romania, showing the large differences in affordability between countries.

Overall, it was concluded that Linear Programming could be a promising approach for determining uniform and comparable European Food Reference Budgets and should be discussed in the context of the EU Commission’s efforts to modernise the European minimum income schemes.

The first year of life is a critical period when nutrient intakes can affect long-term health outcomes. Although household food insecurity may result in inadequate nutrient intakes or a higher risk of obesity, no studies have comprehensively assessed nutrient intakes of infants from food insecure households. This study aimed to investigate how infant nutrient intakes and BMI differ by household food security.

Cross-sectional analysis of the First Foods New Zealand study of infants aged 7–10 months. Two 24-h diet recalls assessed nutrient intakes. ‘Usual’ intakes were calculated using the multiple source method. BMI z-scores were calculated using WHO Child Growth Standards.

Dunedin and Auckland, New Zealand.

Households with infants (n 604) classified as: severely food insecure, moderately food insecure or food secure.

Nutrient intakes of food insecure and food secure infants were similar, aside from slightly higher free and added sugars intakes in food insecure infants. Energy intakes were adequate, and intakes of most nutrients investigated were likely to be adequate. Severely food insecure infants had a higher mean BMI z-score than food secure infants, although no significant differences in weight categories (underweight, healthy weight and overweight) were observed between groups.

Household food insecurity, in the short term, does not appear to adversely impact the nutrient intakes and weight status of infants. However, mothers may be protecting their infants from potential nutritional impacts of food insecurity. Future research should investigate how food insecurity affects nutrient intakes of the entire household.

The primary aim of this rapid review was to provide a summary of the mechanisms by which household food insecurity (HFI) is associated with child and adolescent health outcomes. The secondary aim was to identify key HFI determinants, provide an updated account of HFI-associated child/adolescent health outcomes and build a conceptual map to illustrate and consolidate the findings.

A rapid review was performed using EMBASE, Medline, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library. Inclusion criteria were observational high-income English-language studies, studies evaluating the mechanisms and associations between HFI and child health outcomes using statistical methods.

High-income English-speaking countries.

Child (3–10 years) and adolescent populations (11–24 years) and their parents, if appropriate.

Eight studies reported on the mechanisms by which HFI is related to child health outcomes, suggesting that maternal mental health and parenting stress play mediating roles between HFI and child/adolescent mental health, behaviour and child weight status. Sixty studies reported on associations between HFI and various child health outcomes. HFI had a significant impact on diet and mental health, which appeared to be interrelated. Sociodemographic factors were identified as determinants of HFI and moderated the relationship between HFI and child/adolescent health outcomes.

There is a gap in the evidence explaining the mechanistic role of diet quality between HFI and child weight status, as well as the interplay between diet, eating behaviours and mental health on physical child health outcomes. The conceptual map highlights opportunities for intervention and policy evaluations using complex systems approaches.