Adults with food insecurity (i.e., inadequate access to food because of financial constraints) are 10% to 37% more likely to die prematurely from any cause other than cancer compared to food-secure people, found new research in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
“Among adults who died prematurely, those experiencing severe food insecurity died at an age 9 years earlier than their food-secure counterparts,” writes lead author Dr. Fei Men, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Professor Valerie Tarasuk at the University of Toronto.
Researchers looked at data from the Canadian Community Health Survey 2005-2017 on more than half a million (510 010) adults in Canada. They categorized people as food secure, or marginally, moderately or severely food insecure. By the end of the study period, 25 460 people had died prematurely, with people who were severely food insecure dying 9 years younger than their food-secure counterparts (59.5 years old versus 68.9 years).