MONDAY, Jan. 20, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- "Food
insecurity" -- not having enough money to afford sufficient food --
increases the risk of premature death, new research suggests.
For the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 510,000
adults in Canada between 2005 and 2017. Over the study period, nearly 25,500
people died prematurely. The average life expectancy in Canada between 2008 and
2014 was 82, so deaths at or before that age were considered premature.
The study found that, compared with adults who had access to
enough food, those with food insecurity were 10% to 37% more likely to die
early from any cause other than cancer.
Rates of premature death from infectious-parasitic diseases,
unintentional injuries and suicides were more than twice as high among those
with severe food insecurity compared with others, according to the report.
Fei Men, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto, led
the study, which was published Jan. 20 in the CMAJ (Canadian Medical
Association Journal).
Among the adults who died prematurely, those with severe food
insecurity died an average of nine years younger than those who were food
secure (59.5 years old versus 68.9 years old), the findings showed.
"The significant correlations of all levels of food
insecurity with potentially avoidable deaths imply that food-insecure adults
benefit less from public health efforts to prevent and treat diseases and
injuries than their food-secure counterparts," the authors concluded.
Policies to reduce food insecurity could lower the number of
premature deaths, the researchers suggested in a journal news release.
"In Canada, policies that improve the material resources of
low-income households have been shown to strengthen food security and
health," Men said.
More information
Last Updated: Jan 20, 2020
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