“Food insecurity has significant implications for the health of women and their children, both in the short and long-term,” said Associate Professor Fiona McKay, lead author on the research at Deakin University within the Institute for Health Transformation’s Determinants of Health domain.
“One of the first studies of its kind in Australia, our research suggests there is a real need to support women in finding solutions to food insecurity and hunger during pregnancy.”
While hunger can be a sign, food insecurity isn’t always obvious. It happens when healthy, affordable and appropriate foods aren’t available.
The research was conducted via online survey of 303 Australian pregnant women, and included questions about income, stage of pregnancy and health conditions. Food insecurity was determined through standardised assessment.
More than 14% of women in the sample experienced food insecurity, with low and middle-income households, those in receipt of welfare and below university level of education all associated with food insecurity.
Food insecurity was found to overwhelm women, leaving them to make potentially unhealthy dietary choices. Due to necessity and convenience, people who are food insecure often rely on calorie-dense meals that may have limited nutritional value.
Health conditions such as excessive weight gain, gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, anxiety, depression and others can result from poor nutrition during pregnancy. Babies may be born early and may be pre-disposed to overweight and obesity.
A/Prof McKay and her colleagues are working with the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne to develop programs to support food insecure pregnant women. Options include assessment of food insecurity as part of standard antenatal screening, and provision of meal kits to offer nutritional support during pregnancy.
The new research is published as an open access paper in Nutrition & Dietetics with co-authors from Institute for Health Transformation at Deakin University, Royal Melbourne Hospital and Western Health, Victoria.
Read the full research paper titled: Occurrence and predictors of food insecurity in a sample of pregnant women recruited from an Australian hospital
Read more about Associate Professor Fiona McKay’s research.
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