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Copyright of Demetra: Food, Nutrition & Health / Alimentação, Nutrição & Saúde is the property of Editora da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (EdUERJ) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper addresses a Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) participatory assessment developed together with community leaders and residents in Salvador city, Bahia, Brazil. Our reflection aims to analyze this research - including design, data generated, and its use - discussing the concept of FNS and its existing assessment methods. Secondary data were found to be difficult to access or of little utility to local activists. The household survey designed and used by the participants characterized the food and nutrition insecurity situation in vulnerable areas of the community, in a dialogue with national and socioeconomic indicators, evidencing robust data. First of all, the relevance of participatory approaches stood out: while the results show how much FNS is intricately embedded into a broader social vulnerability context, they show how critical it is to consider FNS research as a political instrument and the knowledge it produces as a power-related instrument. In this sense, FNS assessment is established as an emancipatory process, indissociable from the action and social change actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ObjectiveTo evaluate the association between food and nutrition insecurity and asthma in children from Latin America.DesignCross-sectional study.SettingSão Francisco do Conde, Bahia, north-eastern Brazil.SubjectsThe study included 1307 children aged 6–12 years from public elementary schools. Asthma symptoms were collected using a questionnaire that was translated and adapted from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood, phase III. The diagnosis of asthma was determined based on reports of wheezing in the previous 12 months. The Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale was used to identify food insecurity. We also obtained demographic, socio-economic and anthropometric information for each participant. We used multivariate logistic regression analyses to assess the associations of interest.ResultsOf the children surveyed, 10·4 % had a history of wheezing and 64·5 % had some degree of food and nutrition insecurity. We found a positive dose–response relationship and statistically significant associations of asthma with moderate (OR = 1·71, 95 % CI 1·01, 2·89) and severe (OR = 2·51, 95 % CI 1·28, 4·93) food and nutrition insecurity.ConclusionsThe results show that moderate and severe food and nutrition insecurity are markers of vulnerability to wheezing. It is important to note that the results of studies in this field have potential implications for social policies that promote food security. Further studies to identify the mechanisms involved in the relationship between food and nutrition insecurity and asthma are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]