(P21-14-26) Household Food Security Status and Dietary Inflammatory Potential Among Urban Alaska Children Aged 2-8 Years

Objectives: To examine associations between household food security status (FSS) and child dietary inflammatory potential, and to test whether participation in food assistance moderates this relationship.

Methods: Cross-sectional analyses were conducted using pooled data (n=613) from three waves (2013, 2015, 2019) of a Children’s Healthy Living Program community-based trial in Alaska’s Fairbanks North Star and Matanuska-Susitna boroughs. Child dietary records were collected from two nonconsecutive, randomly assigned days. Household FSS was assessed using a single-item screener adapted from a validated USDA instrument, which asked about running out of money for food before the end of the month. Dietary inflammatory potential was assessed with 24 food parameters using the biomarker-validated Child Dietary Inflammatory Index (C-DII). Pearson’s chi-square tests compared sociodemographics and child anthropometric measurements by FSS. Food assistance programs with greater odds of food insecurity were identified in logistic regression. General linear models, adjusted for demographics, study design, and daily dietary energy intake, estimated covariate-adjusted mean C-DII scores by FSS. Food assistance programs were additionally included as main effects and as interactions with FSS, to assess whether participation in SNAP or food banks/pantries moderated the association.

Results: Among 613 children, 29% were from households that experienced food insecurity. The overall mean C-DII score was more anti-inflammatory (-0.59; 95% CI -0.61, -0.56) and means significantly differed between food secure and food insecure groups (-0.67; 95% CI -0.79, -0.55 vs. -0.44; 95% CI -0.62, -0.26; p=0.03). No interactions with food assistance were detected; however, mean C-DII scores additionally adjusted for food assistance were no longer statistically significant.

Conclusions: Inflammatory potential of child’s diet was slightly anti-inflammatory, relative to the C-DII global reference intake. However, children from food insecure households had significantly higher (less anti-inflammatory) C-DII scores compared with those from food secure households. The observed difference was not statistically significant after accounting for food assistance. Neither SNAP nor food bank/pantry participation significantly modified the association.

Funding Sources: USDA NIFA