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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutritional Epidemiology
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1505771

How does young adults' dietary and health-related quality of life vary by food security and household income?

Provisionally accepted
Eun-Kyung Kim Eun-Kyung Kim 1Yong-Seok Kwon Yong-Seok Kwon 1,2Se-Na Kim Se-Na Kim 1*Jin-Young Lee Jin-Young Lee 1*Young Hee Park Young Hee Park 1*
  • 1 National Institute of Agricultural Science (South Korea), Wanju, Republic of Korea
  • 2 Rural Development Administration (South Korea), Jeonju, Republic of Korea

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The objective of this study was to compare the dietary and health-related quality of life of young adults according to their household income and food security status.To conduct this study, 10,224 young adults aged 19-34 years who participated in the 2008-2018 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) were selected. Subjects were categorized into four groups based on household income and food security: 'Food secure & high income', 'Food insecure & high income', 'Food secure & low income', and 'Food insecure & low income'. General characteristics, daily diet, and dietary quality were compared among the four groups.The proportion of participants consuming a daily diet below the estimated average requirements for protein, vitamins A, B1, B2, niacin, vitamin C, calcium, phosphorus, and iron increased in the 'Food insecure & low income' group. Among the most commonly consumed foods, instant noodles and Sprite ranked relatively high in the 'Food insecure & low income' group, while apples and beef ranked relatively high in the 'Food secure & high income' group. The food insecure and low income group exhibited significantly increased rates of mobility problems [OR=1.55(95% CI=1.05-2.29)] and anxiety/depression [OR=1.33(95% CI=1.07-1.64)] in comparison to the food secure and high income group.Food insecurity was positively associated with poor diet quality and was associated with health-related quality of life, mobility, and anxiety/depression, especially among young adults.

    Keywords: young adults, Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES), Food security, household income, Euro Quality of Life-Five Dimensions (EQ-5D)

    Received: 03 Oct 2024; Accepted: 25 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Kim, Kwon, Kim, Lee and Park. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Se-Na Kim, National Institute of Agricultural Science (South Korea), Wanju, 55365, Republic of Korea
    Jin-Young Lee, National Institute of Agricultural Science (South Korea), Wanju, 55365, Republic of Korea
    Young Hee Park, National Institute of Agricultural Science (South Korea), Wanju, 55365, Republic of Korea

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