Food and nutrition insecurity and metabolic risk in adult women from Lima, Peru

Introduction: Food and nutrition insecurity (FNI) is a complex problem that entails economic, nutritional and physiological adaptations in people, which might negatively impacts their health status according to the particular context. Objective: To determine the association between FNI and metabolic risk in adult women in Lima. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional observational analytical study was conducted, the sample was made up of 186 women assisted in public health establishments in districts of Lima. FNI level was assessed using the Latin American and Caribbean Food Security Scale (ELCSA) and the metabolic risk with the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score test (FINDRISC). Chi square test was used to assess the association and Prevalence Ratio (PR) to determine the probability of presenting a higher metabolic risk. Results: 96.8% of women showed some level of FNI: 34.9% severe, 33.9% moderate and 28% mild. The prevalence of women with high and very high metabolic risk was 59.2%. The association between moderate (PR: 2.15, CI: 1.34-3.43) and severe (PR: 2.99, CI: 1.93-4.63) FNI with metabolic risk was significant. Conclusions: The results indicate that metabolic risk is associated with FNI in adult women from Lima. Therefore, the identification of FNI would be positive implications in the prevention of an important public health problem.