Families with older adults have less access to nutritious, safe food

In the past two decades, food insecurity among families that include adults over the age of 60 has almost doubled, affecting nearly 25% of all such families. Findings from the NIA-funded research, published in JAMA Health Forum, underscore the increase in chronic and recurring food insecurity, especially among Black, Hispanic, and low-income families.

Food insecurity means not having enough nutritionally adequate and safe food, or the ability to access such food, to have a better chance of living a healthy and active life. To examine food insecurity trends among families with older adults, researchers from Harvard University, the University of Michigan, and Johns Hopkins University conducted a study using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, a long-running household survey through which researchers collect data on economic, social, and health factors. Funded in part by NIA, the survey enabled researchers to gather information on food insecurity during six timeframes: 1999, 2001, 2003, 2015, 2017, and 2019.

For this study, researchers grouped participant responses, specifically looking at families with at least one adult age 60 or older, into two time periods: 1999 to 2003 (1,311 families) and 2015 to 2019 (2,268 families). To rate the level of food insecurity, they categorized families with one instance of food insecurity in a survey time period as "any food insecurity," two instances as "recurring food insecurity," and three instances as "chronic food insecurity."

Researchers found that the prevalence of recurring and chronic food insecurity increased from 12.5% between 1999 to 2003 to 23.1% between 2015 to 2019. Specifically, recurring food insecurity more than doubled (5.6% to 12.6%), while chronic food insecurity more than tripled (2% to 6.3%). During both time periods, Black and Hispanic families responding to the survey were disproportionately affected by higher rates of food insecurity than White families; however, White families showed the largest increase among all groups in chronic food insecurity with a nearly sixfold increase. In addition, families with low socioeconomic status, low educational attainment, and those participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program had higher rates of food insecurity.

The authors note several limitations of the study, including that food insecurity indicators were self-reported over the previous 12 months, which can lead to underreporting. Additionally, because information on food insecurity was not collected between 2005 and 2013, it is unknown whether families transitioned in and out of food insecurity during that time. Furthermore, due to small sample sizes, researchers were not able to compare food insecurity trends in Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, American Indian, or Alaska Native families.

Overall, these findings underscore the magnitude of food insecurity among families with adults over the age of 60, and how it is experienced disproportionately across communities. Future research is needed to understand food insecurity trends across diverse populations and to explore how policies and programs may reduce its prevalence.

This research was supported in part by NIA grant 1R01AG079286.

Reference:

Leung CW, et al. Trends in recurring and chronic food insecurity among US families with older adults. JAMA Health Forum. 2024. Epub March 1. doi: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2023.5463.