Browsing by Author "Puputti, Katri"

Introduction: Food insecurity (FI) is a quite common problem in high income countries. Many studies have indicated that some groups tend to be more vulnerable for FI than the others, for example food pantry clients. Aim of the study: To determine the prevalence of FI among Finnish food pantry clients, and to define if there were sociodemographic and lifestyle factors associated with FI. We also aimed to assess if FI is associated with dietary diversity. Materials and methods: A convenience sample of 129 food pantry clients (43% men and 57% women) was collected around Finland. Most of the participants were over 54 years old (77%), retired (72%) and had secondary education (58%). Participants completed a questionnaire which included questions about their gender, age, nationality, level of education, employment status, mode of housing, smoking and drinking habits, adequacy of income and perceived disadvantage. Questionnaire included also a seven-item food frequency questionnaire. Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) based on 9 validated questions was used to determine the prevalence and severity of FI. Results: The prevalence of FI was 72%. Of the participants, 46% were severely food insecure. Gender and mode of housing were associated with FI. Men were twice likely to experience severe FI compared to women (OR 2,29; 95% CI 1,09−4,80). Participants who were homeless or living in a rented property were more likely to experience severe FI compared to them who were owner-occupiers (OR 7,12; 95% CI 2,42−20,95). Severely food insecure participants consumed less often fruits and berries (OR 0,36; 95% CI 0,15−0,90), vegetables (OR 0,33; 95% CI 0,13−0,82), dairy products (OR 0,22; 95% CI 0,08−0,63) and edible fat (OR 0,24; 95% CI 0,09−0,65) compared to food secure participants. Conclusions: FI seems to be quite common among Finnish food pantry clients. Severely food insecure clients had poorer dietary diversity than the others, which indicates that food pantries cannot respond to the needs of food pantry clients.