Household Food Insecurity and Nutritional Status of Children and Women in Nepal

BACKGROUND: Information on the association between household food insecurity and nutritional status of children and women based on a nationally representative sample is not available from Nepal. OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between food insecurity and nutritional status of children and married women in Nepal using data from the 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey. METHODS: The Household Food Insecurity Access Scale was used to assess food insecurity in the 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey. We used body mass index (BMI) to assess the nutritional status of married women, and stunting, wasting, and underweight to assess the nutritional status of children under 5 years of age. Binary logistic regression and multinomial logistic regression were performed to examine the associations. RESULTS: In severely food-insecure households, 51% of children were stunted and 40% were underweight; 27% of married women had a BMI below 18.5 kg/m2; children were 1.50 (95% CI, 1.15 to 1.97) and 1.40 (95% CI, 1.05 to 1.85) times as likely as children in food-secure households to be stunted and underweight, respectively; and married women were 1.5 (95% CI, 1.17 to 1.92) times as likely as married women in food-secure households to have a BMI below 18.5 kg/m2. No association was found between household food insecurity and wasting among children. CONCLUSIONS: There is a significant association between food insecurity and malnutrition among children in Nepal. Among women, food insecurity is associated with underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m2) but not with overweight (BMI > or = 25.0 kg/m2).