Food Insecurity and Obesity in Low-Income Women: The Monthly Cycle of Food Abundance and Food Shortage

Food insecurity has been associated with overweight/obesity in U.S. women. Several hypotheses have been proposed to address this paradoxical association, but none has yet been tested. This dissertation is designed to test the “monthly cycle of food abundance and food shortage” hypothesis, and to examine the effects of food stamp program (FSP) participation, disordered eating, and dietary intake patterns on the association. It is hypothesized that food insecure women would experience a monthly cycle with higher total energy intake (TEI) and household food stores at the beginning of the month, followed by a more limited TEI and food supply at the end. The dissertation compared food insecure and overweight/obese (FIS/ovob) women with three other women groups: food secure and normal weight (FS/norm), food secure and overweight/obese (FS/ovob), and food insecure and normal weight (FIS/norm). The monthly variations in TEI and food stores were assessed in a sample of low-income women in Ohio, by comparing the energy intake from the first ten days with that of the last ten days of the month during three continuous months. For FIS/ovob women, significant decreases were found in the total number of food items (Month 1: 87.74 vs. 68.26, Month 2: 83.3 vs. 72.2, Month 3: 88.81 vs. 75.3, p