Dietary Adequacies of Maternal-Child Pairs in León, Nicaragua in Relation to Food Insecurity

Abstract

Food insecurity and malnutrition affect nearly 870 million people worldwide with mothers and children disproportionately affected. Food insecurity is defined as “a state when people lack physical, economic or social access to sufficient amounts of food to meet their dietary intakes and food preferences for a healthy lifestyle” (FAO,2012) . Prior research indicates that, under conditions of food insecurity, mothers report sacrificing their own intakes in effort to divert resources to their children, a phenomenon referred to as “maternal dietary buffering”. However, few empirical studies have confirmed this reported behavior. To test this idea, this study compares the dietary adequacy (energy adequacy (EA) = energy needs/energy intake; protein adequacy (PA) = protein needs/protein intake) of 41 mother-child pairs of low socioeconomic status but variable levels of food insecurity living in León, Nicaragua. Data on mothers’ and children’s dietary intakes were collected over a three-day period using the 24-hour recall method and converted to energy and macro-nutrient intakes using Nutritionist Pro software. We hypothesize that maternal buffering (maternal EA and PA < child EA and PA) will be greater in household reporting moderate to severe food insecurity compared to those with low / no food insecurity. This research will allow for future studies examining food insecurity to elucidate food distribution within the household and to use this information to create programs that can help alleviate food insecurity among women and children in Nicaragua.