Food insecurity increases the odds of obesity among Iranian women: A population‐based study of northwestern Iran

Aim The main objective of the present study was to evaluate the association between obesity and food security status. The sample comprised of Iranian adults with an age range of 15–64 years. Methods In this cross‐sectional study (n = 1277), the short form of the Household Food Security Scale was used to determine food security status. Height, weight and waist and hip circumferences were measured, and body mass index, waist‐to‐hip ratio, waist‐to‐height ratio and conicity index (CI) were also calculated. One‐way analysis of variance and logistic regression were used for statistical analyses. Results There were no statistically significant differences in the mean anthropometric measurements of males and females with different food security status (P > 0.05). After adjusting for covariates, there was no statistically significant association between food security status and anthropometric measurements in men. However, the low food‐secure females were 72% more likely to be overweight in comparison with very low food‐secure women (P = 0.04). Moreover, food‐secure females were 32% less likely to have CI >1.25 compared with very low food‐secure females (P = 0.04). Conclusions The results showed that there is an association between food insecurity and overweight, which is consistent with the finding of prior researches. In addition, for the first time, we showed the significant association between low food security and CI.