Browsing by Subject "Food security"
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Item Associations between diet quality, vegetable availability and access, and food security in low-income children(2019-08) Landry, Matthew James; Davis, Jaimie Nicole; Bray, Molly S; Ranjit, Nalini; Evans, Alexandra E; Widen, ElizabethFood insecurity is a pervasive problem in the United States, and has been previously associated with adverse health and wellbeing in children. The mechanism that underlies this association is assumed to be poor dietary intake, which is likely a result of lack of access to healthy, affordable foods. The purpose of this research was to examine associations between dietary quality, vegetable availability and access, and food insecurity within low-income children. Cross-sectional data from TX Sprouts, a school-based randomized controlled cooking, gardening, and nutrition intervention, were used. Public health and surveillance efforts rely on accurate measures of child food insecurity; however, research suggests that current efforts which utilize parent report of child-level food insecurity may be inaccurate or underestimate the true prevalence. The first aim was to compare child versus parent perceptions of child-level food security status via questionnaires within a large, ethnically diverse population. Previous approaches to alleviating food insecurity and providing nutritious foods, like vegetables, have focused on community or policy level barriers that these households may face. However, even when these barriers have been overcome, individual and interpersonal barriers to vegetable availability, access, and utilization may still persist. The second aim was to examine the relationship between individual and interpersonal barriers to availability, access and utilization of vegetables and household food insecurity. The third aim was to examine the relationship between self-reported food insecurity and dietary quality. Research in this area was needed as evidence linking food insecurity to child dietary intake has been largely unclear and has utilized parent’s perception of child-level food insecurity. The results of this research demonstrated the discordance that exists between child report and parent perceptions of child-level food insecurity and that additional research is needed in large, nationally representative samples. Further, within food-insecure households, significant barriers to access, availability, and utilization of vegetables were found. These barriers serve as ideal targets for future interventions seeking to improve vegetable consumption in low-income children. Lastly, food insecurity was associated with lower diet quality. Interventions targeting food insecure children are needed to improve dietary quality as this may alleviate some of the detrimental impacts of food insecurity on health and wellbeing.Item The effects of a gardening, cooking, and nutrition intervention on gardening at home and food security status(2021-05) Lindquist, Johanna; Davis, Jaimie N.Background: There is a need for a sustainable solution to food insecurity, and gardening may impact food security status by increasing food accessibility, availability, and stability. Objective: To assess how a school-based gardening, nutrition, and cooking intervention (called TX Sprouts) impacts gardening at home and to determine if changes in gardening behaviors impact household and child food security status within a large, ethnically diverse population. Experimental Approach: TX Sprouts is a cluster randomized controlled trial that targeted primarily low-income, Hispanic third- to fifth- grade students and their parents. The following measures were obtained at baseline and after the 9-month TX Sprouts program: household food security via the 7-item USDA household survey; child food security via the 5-item USDA survey; and gardening behavior at home via a 2-item survey. Descriptive and frequency statistics were run through SPSS Version 26. Change scores were computed from percentages of gardening behaviors and food security status at pre- and post-intervention. Chi-square tests and regression analyses were used to assess intervention effects on changes in gardening behaviors at home and how changes in these behaviors affected changes in food security status. The following a prior covariates were included in the regression models: sex, participation in the free or reduced lunch program, ethnicity/race, age. Results: Using regression analysis, participants in the intervention group were more likely to continue or start gardening compared to the control group independent of sex, participation in the free or reduced lunch program, ethnicity/race, and age (β: 0.200; 95% CI: 1.031, 1.446; p = 0.020). The intervention did not have an effect on household or child-reported food security status. Changes in gardening behaviors did not have an effect on household or child-reported food security status independent of intervention. Conclusions: The intervention resulted in increased gardening at home, however had no effect on food security status. Increased gardening at home was not enough to improve food security status. Future steps towards improved food security involve increased access and availability of food at home.Item Feeding unrest : food prices, food security and protest participation in Africa and South Africa(2015-08) Smith, Todd Graham; Busby, Joshua W.; Wilson, Robert H; Heinrich, Carolyn; Findley, Michael; Hendrix, CullenRecent food riots throughout much of Africa and the Middle East in the wake of spikes in international food commodity prices have fueled a renewed academic and popular interest in the long-recognized connection between food prices and social unrest. This dissertation addresses the question how do rising prices and food insecurity contribute to socio-political unrest of all types, rather than focusing on events labeled food riots in the popular media. The dissertation addresses this question at the macro and the micro levels. It begins with a macro-level analysis of changing consumer food price indices and the occurrence of unrest in 40 African countries. It then proceeds to a case study of protest of in South Africa. This case study first reviews the history of political protest in South Africa and the context of a rash of protests that have plagued South Africa over the past decade focusing on local government service delivery. Next a careful examination of trends of economic inequality and food spending in South Africa provides an understanding of the structural factors contributing to relative deprivation in South Africa. Finally, the results of an original survey conducted in a service delivery protest hotspot in Cape Town, reveals that food insecurity is a significant determinant of individual protest participation. These macro and micro level studies lead to the conclusion that food insecurity and rising food prices contribute to increased relative deprivation and predisposition to political protest at the individual level and, consequently, to increased incidence of socio-political unrest.Item Framing the food landscape of Travis County(2011-08) Banks, Karen Oren; Sletto, Bj¢rn; Osborne, Cynthia Anne, 1969-Food is something that we all need to survive but it is not something that we all have access to. In the mid 1990’s, a community-based movement arose to systematically address injustices in access to this basic human necessity. The community food security movement approaches issues of food security at each stage of the life cycle of food to ensure that each stage is sustainable, socially just, and equitable. This study uses this framework to challenge traditional notions of food security by critically examining the economic, social and environmental barriers to food equity in Austin, Texas. Austin is said to be one of the best cities to live in the United States, but not because it is food secure. This study therefore examines the food landscape of Travis County and the accessibility of food resources to meet the food needs of area residents. It utilizes a combination of quantitative analysis of food retail locations, focus groups and surveys to gather information about the food needs of underserved residents in Travis County.