Obesity, poverty, and food insecurity in Brazilian males and females

Abstract

The obesity/food insecurity paradox has been present in the scientific literature for the past two decades, based mostly on evidence from the U.S. population. The potential mediators of such a paradox were recently reviewed. Overall, the review confirmed that food insecurity and obesity continue to be positively associated in women; new mediators were revealed (such as marital status, stressors, and participation in food aid programs) that may alter the association. However, until now, publications on obesity among the population exposed to food insecurity in Brazil were scarce. Kac et al. provide such evidence in a series of papers adopting a life course approach to analyze obesity among Brazilian women and children affected by different degrees of food insecurity.