Pacific Islands Families Study: adverse impact of food insecurity on child body composition.

AIM: COVID-19 has exacerbated food insecurity, unemployment, inequities and poverty in Aotearoa. Here, we tested the hypothesis that exposure to malnutrition due to household food insecurity during foetal life and early infancy is associated with body composition in adolescence. METHODS: As part of the Pacific Islands Families Study, 1,376 Pacific Island mothers were asked questions about food security at six weeks postpartum in the year 2000. At age 14 years, 931 youth completed in-school assessments of height and weight. Of these youth, 10 girls and 10 boys from each weight decile were randomly selected to participate in a nested sub-study involving dual x-ray absorptiometry measurements, which included appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASMM) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT). RESULTS: Boys born to families experiencing food insecurity had greater birthweights and greater % fat, less % ASMM and greater % VAT of total weight at age 14 years compared to boys born into food secure households. In contrast, there were no differences in birthweight or body composition at age 14 years by household food insecurity status among girls. CONCLUSION: This study shows that household food insecurity during early development is associated with higher abdominal and visceral fat in boys, which may have health risks in later life.