FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY PRIMER
TERMS AND DEFINITIONS
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last update: 2023-03-21
WHAT THIS RESOURCE OFFERS YOU
- The following table offers a list of food and nutrition security terms referenced in readily available literature on the internet at a point in time as defined by “last updates” at the top of the webpage. It will be updated as definitions, descriptions, and usage evolve. Check back to find recent updates and additions.
- The terms in the table include:
- one or more definitions for each term as publicly provided by an agency, organization or program. Sources include federal programs, research institutions, non-governmental organizations, advocacy organizations, and others.
- links to reference and resources for more information.
- keywords which offer considerations for each term’s context. Keywords offer a means to quickly understand what a term includes and may help with identifying the subtle differences between terms.
- This evolving resource will grow over time. This webpage will be regularly updated as the definitions and usage evolve. Please check back regularly to find recent updates and additions. (add WordCloud after this)
FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY TERMS | ||
|---|---|---|
| Term | Key Words | Definition/Description |
| Food and Nutrition Security | physical access to food; social access to food; economic access to food; safe food; sufficient quantity; sufficient quality; health equity; social determinants of health | Food and nutrition security means having reliable access to enough high-quality food to avoid hunger and stay healthy. Improving access to nutritious food supports overall health, reduces chronic diseases, and helps people avoid unnecessary health care. Source: HHS, CDC; Date accessed: 12-27-2022. |
| Food Insecurity | food insecurity; dietary quality and variety; quantity of food; uncertain availability (of food); limited, uncertain acquisition (of food) | Food insecurity is the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways. Food insecurity: Since the food security measure uses multiple items, it covers households worrying about food running out, dietary quality and variety, and quantity of food consumed. Food insecurity is measured at two levels of severity. In households with low food security, the hardships experienced are primarily reductions in dietary quality and variety. In households with very low food security, the hardships experienced are reduced food intake and skipped meals. Source: USDA-ERS; Date accessed: 09-13-2022. |
| Food Insecurity and Social Determinants of Health | food insecurity; low food security; very low food security; nutrition security; food and nutrition security; social determinants of health | Food insecurity is defined as a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food "that may be influenced by a number of factors, including income, employment, race/ethnicity, and disability." Low food security: Reports of reduced quality, variety, or desirability of diet. Little or no indication of reduced food intake. Very low food security: Reports of multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake. Source: HHS, HP2030 and HHS, HP2030; Date accessed: 12-27-2022. |
| Food Insufficiency | food insufficiency; enough to eat; severity; very low food security | Food insufficiency means that households sometimes or often did not have enough to eat. Food insufficiency: The food insufficiency question provides relatively little detail on the food hardship experienced and indicates only whether a household had enough to eat. Food insufficiency is a more severe condition than food insecurity and measures whether a household generally has enough to eat. In this way, food insufficiency is closer in severity to very low food security than to overall food insecurity. Source: USDA-ERS; Date accessed: 09-13-2022. |
| Food Scarcity | food scarcity; food insufficiency | Percentage of adults in households where there was either sometimes or often not enough to eat in the last 7 days. Source: U.S. Census Bureau (Reference period is 7 days); Date accessed: 09-13-2022. |
| Food Security | Food Security; Food Insecurity; Equity | Access to affordable, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food for all people at all times. Source: GusNIP Training, Technical Assistance, Evaluation, and Information Center, Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition; Date accessed: 09-13-2022. |
| access; availability; nutritionally adequate; safe | Food security for a household means access by all members at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. Food security includes at a minimum: The ready availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods; Assured ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways (that is, without resorting to emergency food supplies, scavenging, stealing, or other coping strategies). Source: USDA-ERS; Date accessed: 09-13-2022. | |
| Health equity | health disparities; social determinants of health; economic obstacles; injustices | Is the state in which everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health. Achieving this requires focused and ongoing societal efforts to address historical and contemporary injustices; overcome economic, social, and other obstacles to health and healthcare; and eliminate preventable health disparities. Source: HHS, CDC; Date accessed: 09-13-2022. |
| High Food Security | no food access problems; no food access limitations | High food security (old label=Food security): no reported indications of food-access problems or limitations. Source: USDA-ERS; Date accessed: 09-13-2022. |
| Hunger | individual level; physiologic condition | Hunger is an individual-level physiological condition that may result from food insecurity. Source: USDA-ERS; Date accessed: 09-13-2022. |
| consequence of food insecurity; involuntary lack of food | The term hunger refers to a potential consequence of food insecurity. Hunger is discomfort, illness, weakness, or pain caused by prolonged, involuntary lack of food. Source: HHS, HP2030; Date accessed: 09-13-2022. | |
| Limited Access to Healthy Foods | food access; food availability; built environment; references USDA definition | Percent of population that is low-income (below 200% the Federal Poverty Level) and does not live close to a grocery store (more than 10 miles for rural and 1 mile for non-rural). Source: HHS, HRSA; Date accessed: 09-13-2022. |
| Low Food Security | reduced diet quality; reduced diet variety; reduced desirability of diet | Low food security (old label=Food insecurity without hunger): reports of reduced quality, variety, or desirability of diet. Little or no indication of reduced food intake. Source: USDA-ERS; Date accessed: 09-13-2022. |
| Marginal Food Security | anxiety over food sufficiency or food in the house | Marginal food security (old label=Food security): one or two reported indications—typically of anxiety over food sufficiency or shortage of food in the house. Little or no indication of changes in diets or food intake. Source: USDA-ERS; Date accessed: 09-13-2022. |
| Nutrition Security | consistent and equitable access to food; consistent availability of food; affordability; equity | Consistent and equitable access to healthy, safe, and affordable foods that promote optimal health and wellbeing. Source: USDA-FNS; Date accessed: 09-13-2022. |
| Nutrition security means all Americans have consistent and equitable access to healthy, safe, affordable foods essential to optimal health and well-being. Our approach to tackling food and nutrition insecurity aims to: Recognize all Americans are not maintaining an active, healthy life that is consistent with Federal recommendations; and Emphasize taking an equity lens to our efforts. Source: USDA-FNS; Date accessed: 09-13-2022. | ||
| Very Low Food Security | disrupted eating patterns; very low food intake | Very low food security (old label=Food insecurity with hunger): reports of multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake. Source: USDA-ERS; Date accessed: 09-13-2022. |
RESOURCES
- White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health: Session Recordings, 09-28-2022
- White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health: National Strategy, 09-28-2022
- White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health: Website
- Defining Food Insecurity and Measuring it During COVID-19, Food Research & Action Center (FRAC), Date accessed: 09-14-2022
- Definitions of Food Security, USDA Economic Research Service (ERS), Date accessed: 09-14-2022
- Prioritizing Nutrition Security in the US, Viewpoint” editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Academy (JAMA), Date accessed: 09-14-2022
- Research Framework that is a multi-dimensional model depicting a wide array of health determinants relevant to understanding and addressing minority health and health disparities, The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), HHS, Date accessed: 09-14-2022
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