older man smiling, drinking tea
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Food insecurity — not having access to food consistently — can hit older adults especially hard. In fact, for each year that a person over the age of 65 is uncertain about where they will get food from, the more likely they are to have unhealthy weight changes, which are linked with earlier death, a new study finds.
A team from the Penn State College of Health and Human Development evaluated the link between food insecurity, changes in body weight and composition, and participation in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Its research was published last month in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The team analyzed data that was collected from 3,897 participants between 2012 and 2021. Data came from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS). All the participants were 65 years or older and enrolled in Medicare.
Investigators compared the associations among a person’s experience with food insecurity every year, noting their SNAP status at the start of data collection as well as their body measurements (weight, waist circumference and body mass index). They noted four weight patterns among participants: stable, loss, gain and fluctuations of more than 5% of body weight. Previous research has shown that all the patterns except stability are associated with earlier death.
“Unfortunately, our study demonstrated that every year an older person experiences food insecurity, they have higher odds of losing, gaining or fluctuating weight, putting them at higher risk for premature death,” Muzi Na, PhD, associate professor of nutritional sciences at Penn State.
People think food insecurity is just about not being able to afford food, but there are social and physical factors that may contribute to food insecurity, the authors pointed out. The team looked at all those factors when it assessed food insecurity status. Anyone who reported at least one of these experiences was deemed food-insecure, the team said.
Meal delivery services may be useful to help with the physical and social-support issues that contribute to food insecurity in older adults.