Food insecurity, nutrition insecurity, and self-reported health among newcomer Manitoba youth: A cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT

Many youth in Manitoba are not food secure. Newcomer youth may be more vulnerable to food insecurity. Further, it has been suggested that being food secure does not ensure a nutritionally adequate diet. This study examined survey data from 1,347 grade nine students to describe and compare food security by newcomer status. Survey data were also used to compare the dietary intakes, eating behaviors, and self-reported health of newcomer youth by food security status. Food security status between newcomer and non-newcomer youth was not significantly different, however, being food secure was not enough to have optimal nutritional health and well-being.

KEYWORDS:

• Food security
• dietary intake
• adolescent
• immigrant
• Canada

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all the students who agreed to participate in the study. We would also like to thank Amy Henderson who worked on the FANS team during the early stages of the research project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.