Household Food Security Status and Food Consumption among High School Students in Esfahan, Iran

Food security (access to safe, nutritious, affordable food) is one of the important determinants of health status in human life. Since monitoring and assessing of associated factors to food security are essential for health planning, this study has tried to determine household food security status and food consumption amongst high school student families in Esfahan, Iran. This cross-sectional study was conducted in autumn 2008 on 580 high school 14-17y students of Esfahan, Iran using a systematic cluster sampling. Food security and food frequency questionnaire were completed by interviewing mothers and students. The prevalence of household food insecurity was estimated as 36.6% (95%CI: 33-40%). Household food insecurity was positively associated with frequency of some food group intakes among students, including bread; macaroni; potato; legume; and eggs (P<0.05). In addition, negative associations were observed between food insecurity and frequency of other food group intakes including rice, red meat, sausage and hamburger, poultry, fish, green vegetables, root and bulb(colored) vegetables, melons, banana, pineapple, coconut, mango, apple, orange, milk, and yogurt (P<0.05). The results of this study indicate that food insecurity is prevalent among (students) households in Esfahan. In addition, students living in food-insecure households more frequently consumed cheap foods containing high energy per kilogram. Therefore, appropriate nutritional programs should be designed to improve the quality of household food consumption.