Food Insecurity, Not Stress is Associated with Three Measures of Obesity in Low-Income, Mexican-American Women in South Texas.

Objective: To determine the relationship between obesity, food insecurity and perceived stress in very low income Mexican American women.

Design: Cross-sectional baseline data analysis of a randomized clinical trial.

Setting: Texas-Mexico border region of South Texas.

Subjects: Very Low Income Mexican American Women.

Results: The relationship between obesity and food insecurity in a sample of very low income Hispanic women living in South Texas depends on the measure of obesity and the dimension of food insecurity. The only measure of food insecurity associated with all measures of obesity was often not having enough money to afford to eat balanced meals. Waist circumference was associated with the most dimensions of food insecurity, while BMI had the least associations. Finally, perceived stress was not significantly associated with BMI, waist circumference or percent body fat when adjusted for other covariates.

Conclusions: We have found a strong and significant relationship between food insecurity related to having enough resources to eat a balanced diet and BMI, waist circumference, and percent body fat in low-income Mexican American women. While behavioural change is an important strategy for reducing obesity, consideration may need to be made as to how food access with high nutritional value, may be in and of itself a contributing factor in obesity in low income populations.