Food Insecurity is associated with cigarette smoking among Latinos

Background: Prevalence of food insecurity among Latinos is almost double the national average. Risk factors such as smoking, poverty, and acculturation may be associated with food insecurity and these multiple burdens could increase the risk of a variety of adverse health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of food insecurity, cigarette smoking, and acculturation among Latinos, which to date has not yet been studied. Methods: We studied 6,935 Latino adults from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2008 surveys. Multiple logistic regression models were tested to assess the association among food insecurity, cigarette smoking, and acculturation, controlling for age, sex, and poverty index ratio. Multiple models were calculated using different proxies of acculturation. Results: Among Latino current smokers, 24.2% had either low or very low food security, compared to 19.9% and 19.6% of former and never smokers, respectively. When assessing the association of smoking and food insecurity in separate models using different measures of acculturation, the odds ratios of current smokers—compared to never smokers—were all significant and ranged from 1.37 (CI) to 1.31 (CI). Lower levels of acculturation and lower incomes were also significantly related to higher food insecurity. Conclusions: Among Latinos, current smoking and low acculturation are important associated risk factors of food insecurity and may be linked to its root causes. This information might be helpful in identifying vulnerable populations and also in furthering our understanding of the ultimate causes of food insecurity.