HDFS Faculty Investigate Obesity, Food Insecurity, and Family Stress in Low-Income Children

By Joan Baenziger, HDFS Graduate Student
10-03-07

Investigators:
Craig Gundersen, Steve Garasky, Brenda Lohman, Susan Stewart and Joe Eisenmann

What do HDFS faculty members Craig Gundersen, Steve Garasky, and Brenda Lohman have in common? They have teamed together, along with Susan Stewart, Department of Sociology, and Joe Eisenmann, Michigan State University, on a newly funded 500,000 dollar grant examining family stress, food insecurity, and obesity in low income children.

Did you know that currently 17% are overweight and another 17% are at risk of being overweight which means that 1 in three children and adolescents in the United States are either? Child obesity is a dire public health concern and it is associated with a multitude of physical, emotional, and social consequences into adulthood, including an increased risk of adult obesity. These conditions can lead to reduced life expectancy and decreased levels of quality of life. The National Institute of Medicine has recommended making the prevention of child obesity a national priority in 2005.

Another public health concern related to diet and nutritional status in the U.S. is food insecurity. A person is considered food insecure if he or she does not have the financial means to access enough food to sustain active, healthy living. Approximately one in five children in the U.S. lives in a food insecure household with substantially higher rates for children in households below the poverty line As with obesity, food insecurity has been shown to lead to a plethora of medical problems for children including from diminished psychosocial functioning, frequent stomachaches and headaches , worse health outcomes, increased odds of being hospitalized, higher levels of hyperactivity, greater propensities to have seen a psychologist, behavior problems, and higher levels of iron deficiency with anemia.

working together Their research project, a National Research Initiative Grant funded by the United States Department of Agriculture, CSREES, began in January of 2007 and is funded for the next three years. The researchers are utilizing three datasets, along with an array of statistical techniques to test the association between food insecurity and childhood obesity. This question has not been addressed through analyses of large, nationally representative data, in the past. Along with other relevant factors, the researchers are especially interested in the effect of financial stressors such as job loss, declines in income, high debt levels, and lack of savings.

The research team comes from multiple disciplines including economics, sociology, human development and family studies, pediatric physiology, and epidemiology. "The multi-disciplinary approach was the key to my becoming part of the grant team," stated Brenda Lohman. "It's not just about the information we will produce for other scholars, but about the health policy implications and potential recommendations that we can make to improve the well-being of children and their health," she added. Susan Stewart agreed that a multidisciplinary approach will provide the most thorough understanding of the complex problem of childhood obesity. Drs. Garasky and Gundersen note that "The family policy implications of their research cover the total life span and all areas of the HDFS." Joe Eisenmann, from Michigan State University, wrote: "My role in this grant is to provide expertise in the area of childhood obesity. In addition, I have begun work in the area of stress and obesity in children".

How does this research team manage all the analyses with three different datasets? They could not get all their research questions answered without the help of their research assistants, Yemisi Kuku and Duhita Mahatmya. Together, the entire team is focused and progressing in their investigation of childhood obesity, stress and food insecurity!