A new study shows that children who come from Ontario homes with food insecurity have a higher prevalence of outpatient visits for mental health disorders or substance use problems.The report was authored by Kelly K. Anderson, Kristin K. Clemens, Britney Le, Lixia Zhang, Jinette Comeau, Valerie Tarasuk and Salimah Z.
"Children and adolescents living in food-insecure households in Ontario had a higher prevalence of past-year health service contacts for mental or substance use disorders, and this was not fully accounted for by key confounding factors, such as low household income, single-parent family, number of children in the household or maternal mental or substance use disorders,” the authors wrote.
The report also stated the findings were not “generalizable” to people living in First Nations communities or remote areas “where food insecurity is particularly prevalent.” The findings, the authors state, show the connection between food insecurity and mental health disorders and substance use disorders, and offers evidence that effective public policy interventions can weaken those connections.
"Household food insecurity represents a modifiable marker of risk for mental and substance use disorders, with evidence of effective public policy interventions,” the report states. “Focused efforts to support food-insecure families should be explored as a target for public mental health efforts to improve child and adolescent mental health and reduce the strain on the mental health system."Len Gillis covers health care and mining for Sudbury.com.
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