Households with Special Dietary Needs Experienced Higher Food Access Challenges and Worries During COVID-19

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the heightened food-related challenges and concerns faced by households with special dietary needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using logistic and ordinal regression on data from the National Food Access and COVID Research Team (NFACT) survey in New Mexico, we found that such households experienced greater food insecurity, difficulty finding affordable and appropriate food, and increased worries about food safety, prices, and availability compared to those without special dietary needs. The findings emphasize the necessity for policy makers and emergency planners to develop inclusive food security strategies that accommodate diverse dietary needs, particularly in crisis situations.

KEYWORDS:

• Diet
• food security
• vegetarian
• pandemic

Acknowledgements

We thank the many community organizations and institutions that assisted with the dissemination of our survey, particularly New Mexico First, New Mexico Thrives, Presbyterian Healthcare Services, and New Mexico State Extension. We also thank Gaby Phillips and Aracely Tellez for help with translating the survey into Spanish. This research was conducted as part of the NFACT, a national collaboration of researchers committed to rigorous, comparative, and timely food access research during the time of COVID-19. To learn more visit nfactresearch.org.

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Author contributions

Conceptualization: Stephanie Rogus; Methodology: Stephanie Rogus; Formal analysis and investigation: Nadia Koyratty; Writing – original draft preparation: Nadia Koyratty; Writing – review and editing: Nadia Koyratty, Stephanie Rogus, Lauren Clay; Funding acquisition: Stephanie Rogus; Resources: Stephanie Rogus, Lauren Clay; Supervision: Stephanie Rogus

Code availability

The codes that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Ethics approval

Study approval was received by the Office of Research Integrity and Ethics and review was not required.