Food insecurity and overweight among government-backed economy restaurant workers

Abstract

Objective The objective was to analyze the occurrence and the associated factors with food insecurity and overweight among government-backed economy restaurant workers in one of the biggest cities in Brazil. Methods A sample comprised of 180 individuals and represented 76.0% of all economy restaurant workers in the city of Belo Horizonte. Food insecurity was identifi ed through the Brazilian Food Security Scale, and excess weight was identifi ed by the body mass index. Data collection included sociodemographic and occupational information, and also health and quality of life perception. Logistic regression models were applied to identify the association. Results Food insecurity and overweight prevalence levels were 24.0% and 66.7%, respectively. The odds of identifying food insecurity were 2.34 times higher among workers that perceived their quality of life to be regular/poor/very poor and 62.0% and 74.0% lower among workers from the 2nd and 3rd tertile of per capita income, respectively. Individuals ≥40 years old (Odds Ratio=2.69, Confi dence Interval 95%:1.33-5.43) and food handlers (Odds Ratio=3.62, Confi dence Interval 95%:1.68-7.81) had higher odds of being classifi ed as overweight compared to reference categories. Workers with higher per capita income presented lower odds of being classifi ed as overweight (Odds Ratio=0.40, Confi dence Interval 95%:0.17-0,96).