Association between food insecurity and anemia among women of reproductive age

Introduction

The aim of the Millennium Declaration agenda was to address the most pressing issues regarding human development and consisted of eight broad goals (United Nations Development Program, 2015) which were subdivided into measurable targets and indicators of progress. The first of the eight goals was dedicated to: (1) Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day, and (2) Reduce by half the proportion of population who suffers from hunger (United Nations Development Program, 2015). However, achievement towards these goals remain far from becoming a reality as hunger-related causes continue to claim about 25,000 lives a day including one child every 5 s (Sheeran, 2008). The statistics on hidden hunger or micronutrient deficiency reveal a more harrowing scenario since it affects around two billion people globally (Muthayya et al., 2013).

As the home to world’s second largest poor and malnourished population, countries in South Asia suffer extraordinary challenges in population health stemming to a large part from widespread hunger and micronutrient deficiency disorders mainly from vitamins A and D, iron, iodine and zinc (Akhtar, 2015). In Bangladesh, micronutrient deficiency disorders constitute a major public health challenge especially for women and children (Jamil et al., 2008). Literature review on food insecurity and anemia suggests that there has been a growing interest surrounding food insecurity and macronutrient deficiency issues (particularly anemia) in the context of women and infant health (Darnton-Hill & Mkparu, 2015; Torheim et al., 2010). The impact of food insecurity and anemia has been shown to be more pronounced among women of reproductive age especially for pregnant mothers due to their increased requirement of micronutrients (Scholl, 2005). Anemia is also reported to be the most prevalent nutritional deficiency that affect pregnancy outcome and threaten the life of both mother and fetus (Olson, 2010). One American study found significant association between HFI and anemia on adolescents of both sex (Eicher-Miller et al., 2009), but not on pregnant women in North Carolina (Laraia, Siega-Riz & Gundersen, 2010). While in Mexico, HFI was reported to be significantly associated with anemia among adult women, but not among adolescent women (Fischer et al., 2014).

Bangladesh has historically been a high anemia prevalent country with a higher proportion in the rural areas. About three-quarter of the total population were reportedly suffering from varying degrees of anemia during 1975/76, among which more than three-fourth were rural residents; while in 1995/96, the rural prevalence was around 45% among adolescent and non-pregnant women and 50% among pregnant mothers (Ahmed, 2000). The prevalence among rural non-pregnant women slightly reduced to 43.5% in 2010–2011 against an urban rate of 37.2% (Kamruzzaman et al., 2015). Apart from a high burden of anemia, undernutrition also appears to be a widespread phenomenon among Bangladeshi women with about one-third of all women currently living with a body mass index (BMI) below 18.5 kg/m² (Ahmed et al., 2012). Over the past few decades, the situation of undernutrition among women has attracted increased political attention led by the growing understanding of the gender dimensions of food security and the impact of women’s socioeconomic vulnerability on their lack of control over personal nutritional and other health issues (Ivers & Cullen, 2011). Gender differentials in income and food poverty are also known in the country for a long time. In addition to persistent income inequality (Chowdhury et al., 2013), household dietary surveys have demonstrated that male members usually consume more calories and nutritious foods and have a higher frequency of health care services utilization compared to women (Chen, Huq & D’Souza, 1981). Poverty and income inequality exert a direct influence on the two main pillars of food security: accessibility and availability (Varadharajan, Thomas & Kurpad, 2013), and their individual or combined effects are likely to present hard trade-offs between food and other household and personal necessities, and thus set the conditions for food vulnerability and increased susceptibility to micronutrient deficiency diseases. In recent years, the Bangladesh government has made several programmatic efforts to address anemia among women (e.g. iron and folic acid/IFA supplementation) especially in the rural areas. Population based studies focusing on the actors that affect anemia can contribute to generating valuable insights necessary for evidence based health policymaking. In this study, we aimed to explore this association in the context of women of reproductive age in Bangladesh.

Methodology

Results

Discussion

Food insecurity and micronutrient deficiency especially anemia are major public health concern in Bangladesh (Akhtar, 2015). However, epidemiological evidences on the association between household food security and anemia is sporadic. Based on nationally representative data from the 2011 Demographic and Household Survey, this study demonstrates the association between food insecurity and anemia among women of childbearing age in Bangladesh. Among the participants, more than two-fifths were suffering from varying degrees of anemia and about one-fifth were living in food insecure conditions. Consistent with a Mexican study, our findings showed that women who reported food insecurity had a substantially higher likelihood of suffering from anemia compared to their food secure counterparts. Food insecurity can lead to anemia through inadequate intake of micronutrients (Skalicky et al., 2006), and through decreased concentration of the micronutrients which facilitate the bioavailability of iron (Fe) such as vitamin A and C, folate (Backstrand et al., 2002).

Inadequate intake of micronutrients in food insecure households can be a result of under-consumption of food, or overconsumption of energy-dense but nutrient-poor diet which are becoming increasingly cheaper sources of calorie for poor consumers (Drewnowski & Eichelsdoerfer, 2010; Drewnowski & Darmon, 2005). Gradual liberalization of the agri-food market along with the rapid expansion of local food industries have triggered a nutritional transition from home cooked food to more processed and away-from-home meals. In India, similar shifts in dietary pattern has been shown to be associated with lower intake of green leafy vegetables (GLV) and fruits, less iron rich diet, and higher prevalence of anemia (Balarajan, Fawzi & Subramanian, 2013). Though the consumption pattern of convenience food is likely to differ across age (higher among adolescents and adults) and region (higher among urban residents), the increasingly higher cost of healthy diet (fresh fruits and vegetables (FFV)) (Mayuree et al., 2013) may cause adverse health effects among poor households in rural areas as well.

As expected, wealth and educational status were also found to be significantly associated with anemia status among the participants. Educated individuals usually tend to be more concerned about personal health and exhibit better self-efficacy and adherence to healthy dietary and lifestyle habits (Frieden, 2010). Low socioeconomic and educational status have shown to be associated with poor adherence to healthy eating patterns and micronutrients deficiencies among women in Sub Saharan Africa (Bain et al., 2013). Due to their low educational and socioeconomic status, women in Bangladesh are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity and micronutrient deficiency and debilitating health impacts of both them and their children compared to males (Choudhury et al., 2000). Such disparities rooted to the social and familial values are hard to address and require broad-scale health education and awareness building projects. Nutrition programs targeting at maternal health could be integrated with nutrition education to encourage best practice among adult women and whole society. Previous studies have demonstrated a positive impact of nutrition education on increased intake of micronutrients (iron, absorbable iron, and vitamin C) among adolescent girls (Alaofè et al., 2009) and pregnant women. One Korean study reported that children of mothers with higher educational level were less likely to develop anemia and had increased consumption of iron rich diet (Choi et al., 2011). These finding suggest a greater policy emphasis on female education and socioeconomic empowerment programs.

Coupled with nutrition and dietary transition, Bangladesh is also experiencing an epidemiological transition where national disease burden is undergoing a decreasing share of communicable diseases with a rising prevalence of non-communicable disease, e.g. obesity/overweight, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases (Bishwajit, 2015). Previous studies from different settings have demonstrated that anemia status and body weight have certain correlations (Qin et al., 2013), which implies that the changing trend in body weight and composition in a population may alter underlying causes of anemia, and may require modifications in intervention strategies. Our findings demonstrate that compared to women with normal weight status, overweight/obese women had lower odds of suffering from anemia. This finding is consistent with one conducted on adult women in China (Qin et al., 2013). While some studies found no significant relationship between anemia and BMI (Ugwuja et al., 2015), the association between underweight and anemia status remains less clear from previous researches. Future studies should attempt to address this lacking by using specific grades of BMI to explore the impact on different levels of anemia.

In conclusion, prevalence of anemia is high among Bangladeshi women. Our study found a positive association between household food insecurity and anemia among women of reproductive age. Evidence suggests that both anemia and food insecurity are serious challenges for population health and the overall development of the nation. In order to effectively address these issues, national food and nutrition policymaking should reinforce the supplementation and bio-fortification programs and consider subsidizing nutritious foods for poor consumers. Special emphasis should be given to keeping price of staple grains within an affordable range and encourage healthy eating pattern by making animal food and FFV more affordable. National anemia prevention programs should be integrated with those that targets women’s socioeconomic empowerment and promoting household food security.

Our study has several noteworthy limitations. Anemia level was not stratified due to negligible percentage of severe anemia. Participants who reported severe food insecurity were also too few to categorize separately. Data were collected from a survey which was conducted in 2011; hence, the prevalence of anemia and food insecurity might have changed. Due to the secondary nature of the dataset, we had no control over the selection and inclusion of covariates and their measurements.