Food insecurity associated with metabolic syndrome for Latina women
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CHICAGO — Food insecurity, a key social determinant of health, may contribute to the relatively higher rate of metabolic syndrome among U.S. Latina women, according to findings presented at ENDO 2023.
“Because of the significant association identified between low food security and metabolic syndrome in reproductive-aged Latinx females, there is potential to reduce cardiovascular, metabolic and reproductive adverse outcomes through improved access to food,” Emily Lenk Ferrell, MD, a reproductive endocrinology and infertility fellow at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, told Healio.
Ferrell and colleagues analyzed cross-sectional data from the Environment, Leiomyomas, Latinas, and Adiposity Study (ELLAS) from 707 Latina participants living in Michigan. Data were collected during a 4-year period with participants aged 21 to 50 years.
Using U.S. Household Food Security Survey data, the researchers grouped participants as high, low or very low food security.
About one-quarter (24.2%) of participants were noted to have metabolic syndrome, and the presence of metabolic syndrome was positively correlated with age. Among those with metabolic syndrome, 20.7% had high food security, 36.3% had low food security and 33.3% had very low food security. Three percent of participants had very low food security, and food security was associated with metabolic syndrome (P < .05).
“Our hope is that providers screen for food security in their reproductive-age female Latinx patients and are able to provide resources to them. Contributing to the prevention of metabolic syndrome would be ideal over treating the cardiovascular and metabolic outcomes associated with it,” Ferrell said.
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Ferrell EL, et al. Abstract P47. Presented at: ENDO Annual Meeting; June 15-18, 2023; Chicago.
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