Learn Glossary policy economics

Food Insecurity

Limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, or inability to acquire them in socially acceptable ways.

Measured in the U.S. via the Household Food Security Survey Module. Categories range from marginal to very low food security. Drivers include poverty, unemployment, food deserts, disability, and natural disasters. Food insecurity is linked to obesity, diabetes, mental health disorders, and poor pediatric outcomes, and is a key social determinant of health that RDNs are expected to screen for and address.

How each textbook covers it

  • duyff-complete-food-and-nutrition-guide-5e

  • Krause and Mahan's Food and the Nutrition Care Process, 16th ed.Chapter 8

    Measured in the U.S. via the Household Food Security Survey Module. Categories range from marginal to very low food security. Drivers include poverty, unemployment, food deserts, disability, and natural disasters. Food insecurity is linked to obesity, diabetes, mental health disorders, and poor pediatric outcomes, and is a key social determinant of health that RDNs are expected to screen for and address.

Related terms

Food Desert, SNAP, Social Determinants of Health