(P02-017-25) Prevalence of Household Food Insecurity Among Latinas at Risk for Type 2 Diabetes: Relationship to Dietary Glycemic Index and Trans-saturated Fat

Objectives: Food insecurity increases reliance on foods that are high in trans-saturated fats and with a high glycemic index, which in turn may increase risk for type 2 diabetes. Food insecurity may vary over time, yet it is typically measured in a way that prohibits investigation of its short-term variability. This paper will examine food insecurity and dietary intake at 6 timepoints over 3 months among Latinas at high risk for T2D.

Methods: Food insecurity was measured with the validated U.S. Household Food Security Measurement Module. Based on responses at timepoints 1 and 6, participants were coded as persistent food insecure, intermittent food insecure, or food secure. GI and trans-fats were measured using the NutritionQuest Block Fat/Sugar/Fruit/Vegetable Screener, a 55-item screener validated against 24-hour dietary recalls. Descriptive statistics included means for quantitative variables and percentages for qualitative variables. An analysis of variance with post-hoc comparisons was used to compare the three food security status groups on all outcome variables. Analyses were conducted in RStudio v6.0 and statistical significance was set at an alpha level of 0.05.

Results: Participants were, on average, 35 years of age; 63% reported monthly income below $1000. Persistent food insecure participants had significantly higher dietary glycemic index (p=0.039) and trans-fat intakes (p=0.036) than food secure participants. Among screened high trans-fat foods, there was a significant positive trend in increasing food insecurity status and increasing mean weekly fries intake (p=0.0013). Among screened high glycemic index foods, there were significant differences in weekly potatoes intake between the intermittent FI and persistent FI groups (p=0.04).

Conclusions: Future efforts should address both persistent and intermittent food insecurity and improve healthy food purchasing power through SNAP benefits.

Funding Sources: This study was funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).