Household Food Insecurity and Maternal-Toddler Fruit and Vegetable Dietary Concordance

Abstract

Objective: To examine whether prenatal or concurrent household food insecurity influences associations between maternal and toddler fruit and vegetable (FV) intake.

Design: Application of a life-course framework to an analysis of a longitudinal dataset.

Setting: Early childhood obesity prevention program at a New York City public hospital.

Participants: One-hundred and fifty-six maternal-toddler dyads self-identifying as Hispanic or Latino.

Variables measured: Maternal and toddler FV intake was measured using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dietary measures when toddlers were aged 19 months. Household food insecurity (measured prenatally and concurrently at 19 months) was measured using the US Department of Agriculture Food Security Module.

Analysis: Regression analyses assessed associations between adequate maternal FV intake and toddler FV intake. Interaction terms tested whether prenatal or concurrent household food insecurity moderated this association.

Results: Adequate maternal FV intake was associated with increased toddler FV intake (B = 6.2 times/wk, 95% confidence interval, 2.0-10.5, P = 0.004). Prenatal household food insecurity was associated with decreased toddler FV intake (B = -6.3 times/wk, 95% confidence interval, -11.67 to -0.9, P = 0.02). There was a significant interaction between the level of maternal-toddler FV association (concordance or similarity in FV intake between mothers and toddlers) and the presence of food insecurity such that maternal-toddler FV association was greater when prenatal household food insecurity was not present (B = -11.6, P = 0.04).

Conclusions and implications: Strategies to increase FV intake across the life course could examine how the timing of household food insecurity may affect intergenerational maternal-child transmission of dietary practices.

Keywords: dietary habits; maternal care patterns; poverty.