THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FOOD INSECURITY AND OBESITY IN UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEES: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Food insecurity is the lack of availability or access to safe and healthy food due to limited resources and is a nutritional factor associated with obesity. We aimed to evaluate the relationship between food insecurity and obesity in university employees. This study was conducted among 142 administrative employees of a private university between January 2020 and October 2020. Data was collected with Household Food Security Survey Module-Short Form (HFSSM-SF), and anthropometric measurements and socio-demographic characteristics were recorded. Of the participants 39.4% were overweight, and 21.8% were obese. 64.1% of the individuals were food secure, and 35.9% were food insecure. There was no statistically significant relationship between body mass index (BMI) classes or waist circumference (WC) categories and both food accessibility levels and food security status (p>0.05). A weak significant positive relationship existed between the BMI (kg/m2) and HFFSM-SF scores (r=0.219,p=0.009). As the risk of inaccessibility of food increased, the BMI of the participants increased. According to the data collected with the HFSSM-SF, it has been determined approximately one-third of the employees experience food insecurity. It is crucial to develop policies that will contribute to preventing food insecurity with the necessary investigations and future studies.