Food Insecurity among Older Adults: The Role of Social, Health and Economic Factors

Background:Many developed countries face a problem of food insecurity. Such a situation may have health implications. Afford a meal with meat, chicken, fish (or vegetarian equivalent) every second day is one of the nine deprivation items agreed by EU to measure economic strain, and consequently material deprivation (EU council of Ministers, 1985). The study has three main goals: First, to identify predictors of food insecurity among the elderly population; Second, to identify the relation between food insecurity and state of health; Third, to determine whether elderly households’ budget constraints force them to choose between private funding of healthcare services and regular consumption of food.