Question 1
Why do the researchers believe that the relationship between food insecurity and obesity is seen more in women than in men? Do you agree with this rationale?
posted by JoAnna @ 11:46 AM
12 comments
ISU Dietetic Internship Journal Club
Objective: To become familiar with current scientific literature on a variety of nutrition topics and to gain experience in gathering, organizing, critically evaluating, presenting and facilitating group discussion of the literature and the implications to practice.
12 Comments:
I believe that part of the link between obesity in women who are food-insecure is related to the fact that women tend to be more emotionally tied to foods and eating in general. They fall into the “Cyclical Food Restriction” issue, where they are binging & purging, depending on whether it is the early part of the month when food is available, or later on when funds are running short. This type of behavior has been documented to lead to weight gain and loss of lean body mass. I also believe that it’s likely very true that women sacrifice their own health and nutrition for the sake of their child’s; they are more likely to eat poor foods so that their children will have adequate and healthier foods to consume.
Well the article hypothesized that they see this trend more with women possibly related to having more concrete research with women rather then men. More studies have been done looking at females then males. However, they also thought that women are more likely to sacrifice their own intake to feed their children and that this is a possible reasoning. My opinion is more supportive toward the first hypothesis rather than the second. I doubt that there is a significant difference in how men and women sacrifice food for their children so I can't imagine that would have that great of an impact. I think it could be related to the greater amount of research in women. I also think that maybe there are other unknown factors related to men that may be causing this difference and more research looking at men in this capacity would be helpful to better understand this issue.
The researchers believe that the relationship between food insecurity and obesity is seen more in women than in men for a couple of reasons. One is that much of the research to date has only studied women. They also mentioned that it may be related to “maternal deprivation,” which means that mothers sacrifice their intake so that their children will be less affected. I do agree with this rationale. I think that research in this area has focused more on women. I also believe that the maternal deprivation is a real thing. I think that when the case presents, a mother would sacrifice her nutrition to ensure that her children eat enough.
This relationship seen more in women than men may actually be due to exactly what it states in the article: more thorough research on women and perhaps even mothers sacrificing their intake for their children. Both seem fairly logical as research may be more focused on mothers with food insecurity (mothers tend to do the shopping, cooking, and thus affect family food choices; programs like WIC put the mother in charge of food coupons). With the “maternal deprivation” hypothesis, this tends to go along with what one may come across on a daily basis (no matter the socioeconomic status) where a mother is putting her family’s needs ahead of hers and neglects to take care of herself in the process.
Karlie,
I liked your point about the relationship of women and emotional ties to eating. I think this could be a very real reason why women experience a high level of obesity when economic hardship is a stress in their lives. I think that while men are likely to also have emotional eating tendencies, I believe it could be more apparent in women.
Annie,
I agree that there may be other factors contributing to this relationship between food insecurity and obesity. You make a great point that there could be some unknown factors related to men and the same may even be true for women. Further studies are definitely necessary in order to uncover the true significance of this relationship.
Annie- I really do think that it’s very likely there is a strong emotional tie to food that is causing these women to gain weight and develop those “binge-and-purge” type of behaviors. However, this is likely not the only reason, it’s probably more of a multi-factorial effect from more research being focused on women (biased results), emotional ties to food, and sacrificing themselves and their own health for that of their children.
Karlie-
You made a good point in that women have an emotional tie to food and thus this could be a reason why they have a greater rate of obesity. I think that they must eat as much as they can when they can and then go for awhile without a lot of food. You mentioned that they might binge and purge, I wonder how often that happens with this population?
The article links food insecurity and obesity higher in women due to more research being done on women vs. men. The article also states that it may be related to 'maternal deprivation' meaning that the women studied are putting their children's nutritional needs ahead of their own. I agree with this because mothers tend to make more sacrifices of themselves to meet their child's needs.
The article mentioned that many of the studies done on this issue focused more on women than on men. Another reasoning mentioned in the article had to do with "maternal deprivation." I think these are both interesting theories and could very well have something to do with the relationship of obesity and food insecurity among women. Although, I do not think these are the only reasons that obesity is on the rise in food insecure homes. Just like the obesity epidemic itself, there is no one good reason why obesity is increasing at dramatic rates. There are many changes that our society is going through that may or may not have had an effect on this issue. I do agree with the idea behind the maternal deprivation theory - mothers sacrificing their health and well being for those of their children - but I do think that there may be many more factors associated with this issue as well.
According to the review, researchers have suggested women sacrifice their own nutrition in order to protect their children from hunger “maternal deprivation.” More research emphasizes women over men. Or, that food deprivation can cause a preoccupation with food that could lead to obesity. Researchers have also seen in food insecurity a binge-like pattern of eating, which already mentioned, overeating at those times when food is available. Perhaps, the types of food eaten by food-insecure women can make a difference; purchasing refined grains, sugar, and fat versus fruits and vegetables. Or, the stress response leads to over eating (emotional response) that could lead to unwanted weight gain or a hormonal response to stress that causes the body to store fat. Often times it is a one parent household, more times than not, the one parent is the woman. This might explain why there are more studies regarding body weight and food insecurity in women than men.
Heather,
I really liked the idea you mentioned related to food deprivation leading to food preoccupation which in return may lead to overweight and obesity. I think this is a valid point to bring up. This also re-illustrates the idea of obesity, in any income level, stemming from many different factors.
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