Poverty, food insecurity, and obesity: A conceptual framework for research, practice, and policy

Authors

Lila J.Finney Rutten, Center for Human Nutrition
Amy L. Yaroch, Center for Human Nutrition
Uriyoan Colón-Ramos, Center for Human NutritionFollow
Wendy Johnson-Askew, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Mary Story, School of Public Health

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

10-1-2010

Journal

Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition

Volume

5

Issue

4

DOI

10.1080/19320248.2010.527275

Keywords

Food insecurity; Obesity; Poverty

Abstract

Alarming trends in obesity and food insecurity in the United States have raised public health concerns and efforts to understand and address these potentially related public health problems. Although much research has been done to discern whether food insecurity is causally related to the obesity epidemic, the evidence to date is mixed. To address a pressing need for greater conceptual clarity regarding these urgent public health problems, our article summarizes findings from research examining the association between obesity and food insecurity in the United States and describes a conceptual framework to characterize the factors that may fuel a cycle of mutual influence among obesity, food insecurity, and their shared mechanisms and health-related outcomes. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

APA Citation

Rutten, L., Yaroch, A., Colón-Ramos, U., Johnson-Askew, W., & Story, M. (2010). Poverty, food insecurity, and obesity: A conceptual framework for research, practice, and policy. Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition, 5 (4). http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2010.527275