How Access to Food May Impact Mental Health

                                           

                                    
Until the concept of GDP came into practice to measure standards of living, the might of a nation was normally gauged by its ability to feed its people, especially during the periods of drought, natural calamities and war. Irrespective of how much development and innovation takes place, nothing can ever replace healthy food. The nutritional benefits of healthy food play a crucial role in ensuring one's mental and physical well-being. Lack of food or food insecurity (FI) can trigger immense stress and anxiety among people.

As such, FI affects people in multiple ways. Besides uncertainty over the ability to obtain food supplies, even the inability to acquire food in a socially acceptable way tends to invoke feelings of guilt, powerlessness and depression. One can understand the magnitude of the problem by the fact that approximately 795 million people are undernourished worldwide. A major reason for this is the lack of trickle-down effect of economic growth that results in an uneven distribution of and access to food.
At the micro level, socioeconomic factors such as poor economic power lead to food insecurities. In the United States, according to the Economic Research Service survey, 2015:

  • 12.7 percent (15.8 million) of the U.S. households were food insecure at some time in 2015.
  • 7.7 percent (9.5 million) of the U.S. households had low food security in 2015.
  • 5 percent (6.3 million) of the U.S. households had very low food security at some time in 2015.
FI not only affects daily nutritional intake, but also an individual's mental Health. A study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine associated FI with poorer mental health and other psychosocial stressors across countries regardless of an individual's socioeconomic status.
 
Limited access to food can trigger psychosocial stressors

The study, led by Andrew D. Jones, Ph.D., Department of Nutritional Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, entailed data from 2014 Gallup World Poll (GWP). The GWP is a series of nationally representative surveys of individuals in the age-group of 15 and above that cover both urban and rural regions. Around 147,826 individuals from 149 countries were taken into account for the study.
The researchers incorporated the Negative Experience Index (NEI) and the Positive Experience Index (PEI) in their two five-question surveys to determine the mental health status of the participants. It was found that FI ranged from 18.3 percent in East Asia to 76.1 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa. Other findings were:
  • The PEI was highest in Latin America and the Caribbean region (79.4) and lowest in Russia and Caucasus (59.2).
  • The NEI was lowest in Central Asia (17.4) and highest in the Middle East and North Africa region (34.9).
  • FI was associated with poorer mental health status in a dose-response fashion while comparing NEI vs. FI for multiple age ranges. An inverse effect was established for PEI vs. FI data.

Help at hand
About one in three individuals (29.2 percent) experiences a common mental disorder in his or her life, such as depression, anxiety, etc. FI can cause stress that can lead to anxiety and depression. It is essential to ensure food security to enable appropriate functioning of the brain and well-being.

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