Food insecurity and mental health: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Food security has been suggested to be a risk factor for depression, stress and anxiety. We therefore undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis of available publications to examine these associations further.

Relevant studies were identified by searching Web of Science, Embase, Scopus and PubMed databases up to January 2019.

OR was pooled using a random-effects model. Standard methods were used for assessment of heterogeneity and publication bias.

Data were available from nineteen studies with 372 143 individual participants from ten different countries that were pooled for the meta-analysis.

The results showed there was a positive relationship between food insecurity (FI) and risk of depression (OR = 1·40; 95 % CI: 1·30, 1·58) and stress (OR = 1·34; 95 % CI: 1·24, 1·44) but not anxiety. Subgroup analysis by age showed that subjects older than ≥65 years exhibited a higher risk of depression (OR = 1·75; 95 % CI: 1·20, 2·56) than younger participants (OR = 1·34; 95 % CI: 1·20, 1·50), as well as a greater risk of depression in men (OR = 1·42; 95 % CI: 1·17, 1·72) than women (OR = 1·30; 95 % CI: 1·16, 1·46). Finally, subgroup analysis according to geographical location illustrated that food insecure households living in North America had the highest risk of stress and anxiety.

The evidence from this meta-analysis suggests that FI has a significant effect on the likelihood of being stressed or depressed. This indicates that health care services, which alleviate FI, would also promote holistic well-being in adults.