Racial/Ethnic Discrimination and Food Consumption: Examination in Diverse Samples

Racial/ethnic discrimination has been linked to poor health outcomes. Effects of discrimination on health behaviors, including patterns of food consumption, may contribute to health outcomes.

We examined relations of discrimination to consumption of healthy and unhealthy foods in two diverse samples. Structural equation modeling was used to examine variations in associations of discrimination to consumption by the timing and type of discrimination, for healthy vs. unhealthy food, and by sample.

Study 1 included a racially and ethnically diverse sample of adults from New York City (NYC: N = 157); Study 2 included a sample of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) adults from the Denver metro area (N = 303), many of whom also identified with other racial/ethnic groups. Participants completed self-report measures of racial/ethnic discrimination, food consumption, life stressors, and sociodemographic variables.

Structural equation models indicated discrimination was associated with food consumption. Tests of model invariance indicated that the model of discrimination to food consumption can be applied to both samples. Discrimination within the past-week was associated with more frequent consumption of both unhealthy and healthy foods, whereas lifetime discrimination was associated with more frequent consumption only of unhealthy foods.

The data were limited to self-report measures and only the frequency of consumption was assessed. The findings suggest discrimination may contribute to health disparities through effects on food consumption. Differential effects for past-week and lifetime discrimination suggest that multiple mechanisms may be involved.