Place and food insecurity: a critical review and synthesis of the literature

Abstract

Objective: In some high-income countries, a sizeable proportion of households are estimated to be food insecure. It is well known that food insecurity varies between countries and is strongly tied to household income level. The local environment may be another level of influence, which has been relatively understudied. The present review sought to synthesize and critically appraise the existing literature examining local environmental characteristics in relation to individual/household-level food insecurity in the general population. Design: A systematic search strategy was used to search MEDLINE, MEDLINE In-process and Other Non-indexed, EMBASE, PsychINFO, Social Services Abstracts and Sociological Abstracts databases for studies examining local place characteristic(s) in relation to self-reported food insecurity. Setting: Studies could be experimental or observational, but had to be published in a peer-reviewed journal in French or English, and involve individuals from developed countries. 'Place' was defined locally, as ranging from the street to the county level. Subjects: The target population for the review included non-institutionalized individuals in the general population. Results: After obtaining full-text articles, eighteen primary studies met the eligibility criteria. Most studies were conducted in the USA and all but one was crosssectional. Seven of the eleven studies that examined location of residence found that rural living was inversely associated with food insecurity. Mixed results were seen for other place measures such as social capital and distance to food stores. Conclusions: Studies were heterogeneous and had various limitations that preclude definitive conclusions from being drawn. Recommendations for future research are provided.

Food insecurity and nutritional status of individuals in a socially vulnerable situation in Brazil

“…Thus, individuals in situations of social vulnerability present a greater likelihood of experiencing some level of food insecurity 1,2 . According to the National Household Survey (PNAD) of 2013 3 , almost 22.6% of the Brazilian households show some level of food insecurity, but showing gradual decrease in relation to previous researches (34.9% in 2004 and 30.2% in 2009) 3 .…”

Associations between the local food environment and the severity of food insecurity among new families using community food security interventions in Montreal

“…7 While limited financial resources is a major determinant of FI, 8 this problem has been clearly linked to numerous aspects of the local physical and social environment. 9,10 In Canada, community food security interventions (CFSI) (food banks, collective kitchens, community gardens, buying groups, etc.) have been the major response to the problem of FI, 11 but only about 20%-30% of food-insecure households use CFSI.…”

Prevalence and covariates of food insecurity among residents of single-room occupancy housing in Chicago, IL, USA

“…For example, studies have linked food security in urban settings with neighbourhood attributes such as walkability and ease of access to outlets selling fresh fruits and vegetables (7,8) . A recent review on place and food insecurity (5) noted that more research is needed on this topic, particularly to better understand interactions between neighbourhood-level variables, including the socio-economic status of neighbourhoods, and householdlevel variables such as poverty, family composition and housing arrangements. Although housing is an important aspect of the built environment and is often conceptualized as a social determinant of health, relatively few studies have examined food insecurity in the context of housing instability and homelessness in high-resource countries such as the USA and Canada.…”

“…This theoretical framework specifies that in addition to proximal biomedical influences, a range of sociopolitical, economic and geographic factors serve as 'upstream' determinants of health and disease (29) . Within a social determinants of health framework, the literature on food insecurity has positioned this issue as both an intermediary condition that influences a number of other health conditions and health behaviours, and a discrete health outcome that is shaped by social, economic and healthrelated factors (5,7,18,19,(30)(31)(32)(33) . Drawing from this literature, we selected social-financial, health-risk and demographic covariates for our analysis.…”