Food Security and Adolescent Health

Principal Investigator: Frank Elgar
Funding: CIHR and SSHRC
Dates: ongoing

Food insecurity affects 1.8 billion people worldwide and is the single largest risk factor for the global burden of disease. Yet, it remains an understudied topic in adolescents. In this project, longitudinal analysis of early-life food insecurity and adolescent mental health and malnutrition explores healthy developmental trajectories for at-risk youth. The aim is to aim to identify sensitive periods of food insecurity in terms of mental and physical health later on. Global analysis of food insecurity in 150+ high income (HIC) and low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) explores the social and economic determinants of food insecurity and its health consequences for youth. The project emphasizes knowledge mobilisation and critical examination of Canada’s implementation of the 2030 Agenda towards the SDG 2 (Zero hunger).

Major publications from this project:

Elgar, F. J., Sen, A., Gariepy, G., Pickett, W., Georgiades, K., Hammami, N., Azevedo Da Silva, M., & Gordon, D. (2011). Food insecurity, state fragility and youth mental health: A global perspective. Social Science and Medicine - Population Health, 14, 100764. doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100764

Men, F., Elgar, F. J., & Tarasuk, V. (2021). Food insecurity is associated with mental health problems among Canadian youth. Journal of Community Health and Epidemiology. doi.org/10.1136/jech-2020-216149

Elgar, F. J., Pickett, W., Pfortner, T. K., Gariepy, G., Gordon, D. Georgiades, K., Davison, C., Hammami, N., MacNeil, A., Azevedo Da Silva, M., & Melgar-Quinonez, H. R. (2021). Relative food insecurity, mental health and wellbeing in 160 countries. Social Science and Medicine, 268, 113556. doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113556

Hammami, N., Leatherdale, S. T., & Elgar, F. J. (2020). Does social support moderate the association between hunger and mental health in youth? A gender-specific investigation from the Canadian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study. Nutrition Journal, 19, 134. doi.org/10.1186/s12937-020-00648-3

For more information, please visit this Dr. Elgar's Website.