Relationship between food intake and nutritional status with food insecurity in students from a region of Mexico

Abstract

Introduction: Food insecurity (FI) occurs when there is a lack of physical and economic access to food. It is considered a public health problem affecting the vulnerable Mexican population, particularly adolescents at a stage of physical, emotional, and social development. This condition negatively impacts nutritional status and eating habits. Objective: To relate AI with nutritional status and food consumption among high school students in Reynosa, Tamau-lipas, Mexico. Methodology. A cross-sectional and correlational study was conducted in a sample of 303 adolescents. Students of both sexes who signed the informed consent form were included. Adolescents with medical conditions that prevented anthropometric measurements or who did not complete the assessment instruments were excluded. AI was measured using the U.S. Household Food Security instrument, and food consumption frequency was measured using the instrument used by ENSANUT. Nutritional diagnosis was calculated using the BMI z-score with WHO cutoff points. The study was approved by the Bioethics Committee of the Reynosa-Aztl \& aacute;n Multidisciplinary Academic Unit. Results and discussion: 47,9\% of adolescents' homes presented some degree of AI. 38,8\% were overweight (overweight = 19,4\% and obesity = 19,4\%), with no correlation between AI and nutritional status. It was observed that those with AI (31.7\%) had a low consumption of fruits (p = 0,005) and fast food/Mexican snacks (19,1\%) (p = 0,003) compared to those with food security. Conclusion: AI affects almost half of the households studied and is related to changes in food consumption patterns rather than nutritional status. The need to implement nutritional intervention programs and public policies to improve access to healthy foods among vulnerable adolescent populations is highlighted.