Relationship between food insecurity and body composition in Ugandans living in Urban Kampala

The aim of this pilot study was to document the association between food insecurity and body composition among men and women from urban Kampala (Uganda, East Africa) with an emphasis on the potential discrepancy between the sexes. A convenience sample of 60 food secure subjects (30 males and 30 females) and 60 food insecure subjects (30 males and 30 females) matched by age between sexes and categories were tested at home by trained research assistants. To categorize the subjects as food secure or food insecure, the Radimer/Cornell Hunger and Food Insecurity instrument was used. The percentage of overweight/obesity was 31.2% and 66.3% for food insecure men and women, respectively. Only food insecure women were significantly more likely to be overweight (ie.. body mass index >= 25; crude odds ratio=2.3, confidence interval: 1.2 to 3.4) or to have at-risk waist circumference (ie, waist circumference >= 88 cm; crude odds ratio=2.3, confidence interval: 1.2 to 3.7) compared to their food-secure counterparts. However, after adjusting for potentially confounding effects of several environmental factors, the risk for food insecure women to be over-weight or to have at-risk waist circumference was not significant, suggesting that the potential impact of food insecurity is partly expressed via variations of these factors.