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Journal of Food Security. 2023, 11(3), 92-100
DOI: 10.12691/JFS-11-3-2
Original Research

Hunger in Utah and Implications on Social Determinants of Health

Palak Gupta1, and Lendel Kade Narine1

1Utah State University

Pub. Date: November 23, 2023
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Palak Gupta and Lendel Kade Narine. Hunger in Utah and Implications on Social Determinants of Health. Journal of Food Security. 2023; 11(3):92-100. doi: 10.12691/JFS-11-3-2

Abstract

Objective: To (i) understand prevalence of household food insecurity (HFI), (ii) examine the association of HFI with social determinants of health, and (iii) assess the association of HFI to overall health status. Design: Cross-sectional Setting: Utah residents Participants: Data was collected from 1,522 respondents using convenience sampling technique. The survey included questions on household characteristics, shopping patterns, health status, and HFI. Participation was restricted to the residents of Utah over 18 years who agreed to participate. Main Outcome Measure(s): HFI was the dependent variable. Social determinants of health were independent variables. Analysis: Bi-variate and multi-variate analysis was done using SPSS. Results: 51% of the sample households were found to be food insecure. HFI was associated with renting a home [Exp(B) 1.85, p=0.007], increased family size [Exp(B) 1.19, p<0.001], and low education attainment [Exp(B) 1.63, p=0.046]. Intergenerational wealth was found to be protective against HFI [Exp(B) 0.43, p=0.021]. Food insecurity was also strongly associated with self-reported health status [Exp(B) 1.05, p<0.001] and obesity [Exp(B) 1.43, p=0.046]. Conclusions and Implications: Research identified strong associations between food insecurity, social determinants of health and health outcomes. To address these issues, this paper offers policy and practitioner level recommendations that may need to be implemented.

Keywords

food insecurity, hunger, utah, social determinants of health

Copyright

Creative CommonsThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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