Food insecurity in later life: a food security framework to support preventative action

Longer life expectancy and growing income inequality have prompted an increasing interest in understanding the impact of ageing on nutritional requirements in order to optimise intakes, increase the number of years lived in good health and reduce morbidity and associated health and social care costs. Food insecurity reduces access to nutritious and healthy food. Understanding the evidence base on the impacts of food insecurity and the maintenance of food security for older people is crucial to informing policy and intervention. The increase in numbers of older people experiencing food insecurity is a public health emergency and is associated with under and malnutrition. Food insecurity can be experienced at any stage of the life course but has been more widely studied with families and children where poverty is a major driver. Food insecurity in later life has been less well explored by academics, but differs from that experienced in earlier years due to additional complexities, as physical and cognitive health amplify the impact of poverty. Additionally, factors which can appear to be relatively small in impact can act in a cumulative way to push people towards food insecurity. This review will draw on research about older people's food practices, contexts and experiences in relation to food insecurity in later life and offers a model of food insecurity that has the potential to guide focused public health efforts in order to support the older population to be food secure.