Nutrition/Obesity
Associations Between Food Insecurity and Patterns in Noticing and Using Calorie Information on Menus Among Gay and Bisexual Men Meg Salvia* Meg Salvia Heather Mattie Alvin Tran
Background:
Little is known about how experiencing food insecurity impacts noticing restaurant menus’ calorie labels and subsequent use of this information. A better understanding of food insecurity as one component of social determinants of health is needed to facilitate policy-level and educational strategies to support improved nutrition status.
Objective:
The objective of this analysis was to evaluate patterns between food insecurity and noticing and using calorie information among sexual minority men. We also sought to understand potential differences across sexual minority subgroups.
Methods:
We analyzed cross-sectional data from 504 participants in the Men’s Body Project, an online survey of participants who identify as gay or bisexual men. Specific questions assessed past-year food insecurity, whether participants noticed restaurant-menu calorie information, and if so, how they used this information to change their order. Multivariate logistic regression models evaluated associations between food insecurity and noticing calories and individual behavior changes in response to this information.
Results:
Over one-third of participants (35.9%) reported past-year food insecurity, and food insecurity was more prevalent among bisexual men. Over half of participants (55.0%) reported noticing calorie information. Among bisexual men, those who experienced food insecurity were more than twice as likely to report noticing calorie information (OR = 2.63, 95% CI: 1.32, 5.37), while the association for gay men was not significant. In analyses of individual behavior-change responses, gay men had higher odds of ordering smaller sizes (OR = 3.14, 95% CI: 1.26, 8.24), while bisexual men had increased odds of ordering more calories (OR = 3.28, 95% CI: 1.11, 10.11), ordering fewer items (OR = 2.48, 95% CI: 1.00, 6.29), and larger sizes (OR = 3.53, 95% CI: 1.32, 9.87).
Conclusions:
Observed patterns and associations were more pronounced for bisexual participants. Experiences with food insecurity may influence behavior changes in response to calorie information on menus.