Food insecurity and financial aid among university students: Pre-Covid-19 scenario of a public university in southeastern Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: ANGOTTI, Alanis Amorim
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: ZANGIROLANI, Lia Thieme Oikawa
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista de Nutrição
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.puc-campinas.edu.br/nutricao/article/view/7494
• topic: Fellowships and scholarships; Food insecurity; Food security; Students; Bolsa de estudo; Insegurança alimentar; Segurança alimentar; Estudantes

ObjectiveTo estimate the prevalence of food insecurity among beneficiary and non-beneficiary university students of financial aid and associated factors.MethodsA cross-sectional study, with a probabilistic sample of 100 university students, was conducted at a federal university located on the coastal city of São Paulo in southeastern Brazil. The data made it possible to address sociodemographic aspects, food security and food quality markers. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics, Fisher’s exact association test and Mann-Whitney comparisons of means were used to investigate the prevalence of food insecurity between groups and associations with covariables at 5%.ResultsThe results revealed significant differences between groups. Receiving financial aid was associated with more vulnerability to facing food insecurity: 94% have some level of food insecurity (p=0.001); non-white skin color (p=0.019); overseeing one’s own income (p=0.001); the amount of money available to stay at the university (p=0.030). According to food quality markers, both groups often consumed ultra-processed foods (unhealthy quality marker). In contrast, most (92.3%) were concerned with consuming healthy foods. ConclusionThe pre-Covid-19 scenario reveals that despite receiving financial aid, a large part of students faced food insecurity in the three months prior to the study. Therefore, food insecurity should be recognized as a public health concern among university students, and adequate resources should be made available to avoid the occurrence of dropouts and assist in breaking the intergenerational cycle of social exclusion and the human right to food.