Food insecurity is associated with compromised dietary intake and quality among Lebanese mothers: findings from a national cross-sectional study.

Objective: Examine the associations between household food insecurity (HFI) with sociodemographic, anthropometric and dietary intakes of mothers.

Design: Cross-sectional survey (2014-2015). In addition to a sociodemographic questionnaire, data collection included the validated Arabic version of the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale, which was used to evaluate HFI. Dietary intake was assessed using 24-h dietary recall of a single habitual day, and maternal BMI was calculated based on weight and height measurements. Associations between HFI and maternal dietary intake (food groups, energy and macronutrients' intake) were examined. Simple and multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to explore the associations between HFI status with odds of maternal overweight and measures of diet quality and diversity (Healthy Eating Index (HEI) and Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women of Reproductive Age (MDD-W)).

Setting: Lebanon.

Participants: Mothers, nationally representative sample of Lebanese households with children (n 1204).

Results: HFI was experienced among almost half of the study sample. Correlates of HFI were low educational attainment, unemployment and crowding. Significant inverse associations were observed between HFI and dietary HEI (OR 0·64, 95 % CI 0·46, 0·90, P = 0·011) and MDD-W (OR 0·6, 95 % CI 0·42, 0·85, P = 0·004), even after adjusting for socioeconomic correlates. No significant association was observed between HFI and odds of maternal overweight status.

Conclusions: HFI was associated with compromised maternal dietary quality and diversity. Findings highlight the need for social welfare programmes and public health interventions to alleviate HFI and promote overall health and wellbeing of mothers.