Food insecurity and overweight among government-backed economy restaurant workers

Abstract

Objective The objective was to analyze the occurrence and the associated factors with food insecurity and overweight among government-backed economy restaurant workers in one of the biggest cities in Brazil. Methods A sample comprised of 180 individuals and represented 76.0% of all economy restaurant workers in the city of Belo Horizonte. Food insecurity was identified through the Brazilian Food Security Scale, and excess weight was identified by the body mass index. Data collection included sociodemographic and occupational information, and also health and quality of life perception. Logistic regression models were applied to identify the association. Results Food insecurity and overweight prevalence levels were 24.0% and 66.7%, respectively. The odds of identifying food insecurity were 2.34 times higher among workers that perceived their quality of life to be regular/poor/very poor and 62.0% and 74.0% lower among workers from the 2nd and 3rd tertile of per capita income, respectively. Individuals ≥40 years old (Odds Ratio=2.69, Confidence Interval 95%:1.33-5.43) and food handlers (Odds Ratio=3.62, Confidence Interval 95%:1.68-7.81) had higher odds of being classified as overweight compared to reference categories. Workers with higher per capita income presented lower odds of being classified as overweight (Odds Ratio=0.40, Confidence Interval 95%:0.17-0,96). Conclusion It was evidenced an occurrence of overweight among government-backed economy restaurant workers, which was associated with age, income and job position. Food insecurity prevalence was associated with income and quality of life perception. Although the sample work in a food and nutritional security promotion program, it is necessary to recommend actions aimed at the promotion of healthy eating habits.

Food Insecurity among Low-Income Food Handlers: A Nationwide Study in Brazilian Community Restaurants

“…Moderate/severe food insecurity was almost twice the prevalence of the Brazilian population. In this study, socio-demographic characteristics showed that most food handlers were females in the age group ≤40 years old, similar to previous studies carried out with food handlers [15,16,18,22].…”

“…Few studies evaluated FIS among workers in Brazil [21][22][23] and in the world [24][25][26][27]. However, only three of these studies were performed with professionals working in food service.…”

“…A study showed a high prevalence of FIS perception among these professionals in Canada compared to other professionals [24]. The two studies conducted in Brazil only evaluated food handlers in a specific region without a nationwide Brazilian representative sample of food handlers [21,22]. Studies with the population of food handlers demonstrate their susceptibility to food insecurity [21,22], to excess weight [22,28], to management in foodservice with a greater focus on the costs involved with the production of meals than with the health of workers [29].…”

“…The two studies conducted in Brazil only evaluated food handlers in a specific region without a nationwide Brazilian representative sample of food handlers [21,22]. Studies with the population of food handlers demonstrate their susceptibility to food insecurity [21,22], to excess weight [22,28], to management in foodservice with a greater focus on the costs involved with the production of meals than with the health of workers [29]. Even though the studies found in Brazil were both developed in the format of case studies [30][31][32], geographically delimited to institutional spaces, such as universities, Brazilian states or municipalities [21][22][23]28,[31][32][33], food insecurity is multifactorial and, in CR, we hypothesize that socioeconomic and demographic factors of food handlers are associated with food insecurity.…”

“…Studies with the population of food handlers demonstrate their susceptibility to food insecurity [21,22], to excess weight [22,28], to management in foodservice with a greater focus on the costs involved with the production of meals than with the health of workers [29]. Even though the studies found in Brazil were both developed in the format of case studies [30][31][32], geographically delimited to institutional spaces, such as universities, Brazilian states or municipalities [21][22][23]28,[31][32][33], food insecurity is multifactorial and, in CR, we hypothesize that socioeconomic and demographic factors of food handlers are associated with food insecurity. Since the program tends to increase the number of CR in Brazilian territory, more CRs open over the country, possibly resulting in more opportunities to decrease FI among customers and more work opportunities for food handlers.…”