Unaccompanied homeless youth have extremely poor diet quality and nutritional status

Abstract

A lack of in-depth assessment of the nutritional status of homeless youth precludes interventions that achieve nutritional adequacy. We enrolled 118 unaccompanied homeless youth to obtain sociodemographic and health data along with dietary, anthropometric, biochemical, and clinical assessments. As a reference, homeless youth data were compared to a convenience sample of 145 college students. Obesity was prevalent among homeless youth than among college students (29% vs. 8% respectively (CI: 11.2, 29.9). Among homeless youth, 74% of females versus 41% of males were overweight/obese (CI: 14.9, 51.2). Homeless youth also had poor diet quality (44.37 (SD: 12.64)). Over 70% of homeless youth had inadequate intakes of vitamins A, C, D3 and E, as well as calcium and magnesium. Our findings show increased weight, adiposity, and suboptimal intakes of essential nutrients among unaccompanied homeless youth. Further studies are needed to inform evidence-based nutrition interventions that will aid in improving their nutritional health.

Mental health in society’s margins: poor n-3 PUFA intake and psychological well-being of homeless youth

“…This cross-sectional, observational study utilised survey data and biological samples from 114 homeless and unaccompanied youth recruited from a drop-in center in a large midwestern city in the USA who have been described previously in a study of other nutritional vulnerabilities ( 13 ) . This additional analysis is the first to analyse biological samples collected during this study.…”

“…Independent sample t -tests were used to determine differences in means by sex. The sex-based subgroup analysis was predicated on previous research that showed sex-based differential nutrient intake and diet quality among homeless youth ( 13 ) , as well as the sex differences in the regulation and metabolism of n -3 fatty acids ( 40 ) . Depression and anxiety scores from the BDI-II and BAI were initially categorised into minimal, mild, moderate or severe for descriptive purposes, with the categories further collapsed into three groups (minimal, mild and moderate/severe) for modeling purposes.…”

“…Dietary fatty acid intake was energy adjusted for use in linear regression models. Linear regression models were used to determine associations of dietary and erythrocytes n -3 PUFA status (dependent variables) with psychological well-being (independent variables: 3-level BDI-II and 3-level BAI in separate models), adjusting for age, sex, age first homeless and number of months without shelter, based on prior research ( 13 ) . To test for moderation of psychological well-being effects by sex, interactions between BDI-II/BAI and sex were added to these models.…”

Diet Quality, Health, and Wellbeing within the Irish Homeless Sector: A Qualitative Exploration

“…High levels of obesity were reported by service providers also. Previous US research in this area has shown high levels of overweight and obesity to be as high as 58.8% [ 12 , 45 , 46 ]. Irish research has shown abdominal obesity levels to be as high as 90% [ 19 ].…”

Double burden of malnutrition amongst patients with first-episode schizophrenia in a psychiatric hospital: A 1-year follow-up study

“…Several reports in the literature have linked homelessness with nutritional status of both mentally ill and persons without mental illness. 31 , 32 It is known that many homeless persons eat fewer meals per day, lack food more often and are more likely to have inadequate diets. 31 , 32 Wiecha et al 31 and Halsu et al 32 reported that homelessness is an important factor associated with the quality of nutrition and nutritional status.…”