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Food Insecurity and COVID-19: Disparities in Early Effects for US Adults

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically increased food insecurity in the United States (US). The objective of this study was to understand the early effects of the COVID-19 pandemic among low-income adults in the US as social distancing measures began to be implemented. On 19–24 March 2020 we fielded...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Wolfson, Julia A., Leung, Cindy W.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7352694/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32498323
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu12061648
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author Wolfson, Julia A.
Leung, Cindy W.
author_facet Wolfson, Julia A.
Leung, Cindy W.
author_sort Wolfson, Julia A.
collection PubMed
description The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically increased food insecurity in the United States (US). The objective of this study was to understand the early effects of the COVID-19 pandemic among low-income adults in the US as social distancing measures began to be implemented. On 19–24 March 2020 we fielded a national, web-based survey (53% response rate) among adults with <250% of the federal poverty line in the US (N = 1478). Measures included household food security status and COVID-19-related basic needs challenges. Overall, 36% of low-income adults in the US were food secure, 20% had marginal food security, and 44% were food insecure. Less than one in five (18.8%) of adults with very low food security reported being able to comply with public health recommendations to purchase two weeks of food at a time. For every basic needs challenge, food-insecure adults were significantly more likely to report facing that challenge, with a clear gradient effect based on severity of food security. The short-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are magnifying existing disparities and disproportionately affecting low-income, food-insecure households that already struggle to meet basic needs. A robust, comprehensive policy response is needed to mitigate food insecurity as the pandemic progresses.
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spelling pubmed-73526942020-07-21 Food Insecurity and COVID-19: Disparities in Early Effects for US Adults Wolfson, Julia A. Leung, Cindy W. Nutrients Article The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically increased food insecurity in the United States (US). The objective of this study was to understand the early effects of the COVID-19 pandemic among low-income adults in the US as social distancing measures began to be implemented. On 19–24 March 2020 we fielded a national, web-based survey (53% response rate) among adults with <250% of the federal poverty line in the US (N = 1478). Measures included household food security status and COVID-19-related basic needs challenges. Overall, 36% of low-income adults in the US were food secure, 20% had marginal food security, and 44% were food insecure. Less than one in five (18.8%) of adults with very low food security reported being able to comply with public health recommendations to purchase two weeks of food at a time. For every basic needs challenge, food-insecure adults were significantly more likely to report facing that challenge, with a clear gradient effect based on severity of food security. The short-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are magnifying existing disparities and disproportionately affecting low-income, food-insecure households that already struggle to meet basic needs. A robust, comprehensive policy response is needed to mitigate food insecurity as the pandemic progresses. MDPI 2020-06-02 /pmc/articles/PMC7352694/ /pubmed/32498323 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu12061648 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Wolfson, Julia A.
Leung, Cindy W.
Food Insecurity and COVID-19: Disparities in Early Effects for US Adults
title Food Insecurity and COVID-19: Disparities in Early Effects for US Adults
title_full Food Insecurity and COVID-19: Disparities in Early Effects for US Adults
title_fullStr Food Insecurity and COVID-19: Disparities in Early Effects for US Adults
title_full_unstemmed Food Insecurity and COVID-19: Disparities in Early Effects for US Adults
title_short Food Insecurity and COVID-19: Disparities in Early Effects for US Adults
title_sort food insecurity and covid-19: disparities in early effects for us adults
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7352694/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32498323
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu12061648
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