Media release
From: New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA)Food insecurity is not having enough food or an uncertain supply of nutritionally adequate foods to eat. We show from the Pacific Islands Families Study that food insecurity during pregnancy is associated with adverse growth in boys at age 14 years. Currently in Aotearoa, COVID-19 is increasing inequities in access to food and therefore malnutrition. Early life food security is fundamental to future health and physical development.
Key Points
- The Pacific Islands Families Study began 21 years ago when almost 1,400 Pacific babies and their families agreed to take part in this longitudinal study.
- Mothers were asked six weeks after the birth of their baby about the affordability of food over the last year.
- Almost half reported that they either sometimes or often ran out of food due to lack of money.
- Birthweights of boys whose mothers reported food insecurity were higher than those born to families that were food secure.
- At age 14 years boys born into food secure households had proportionally more skeletal muscle mass, less fat and less visceral abdominal fat that those from food insecure households."
