Food insecurity and bariatric surgery - research

Hello! My name is Hana Zickgraf, and I'm a clinical psychologist specalizing in eating disorders and other barriers to having a positive relationship with food. I'm conducting research with Penn State Hershey on how people who are food insecure manage after bariatric surgery. Food insecurity is defined as lacking reliable access to sufficient desirable food for an active, healthy life. People who are food insecure are not necessarily hungry. Food insecurity can also mean not having access to the types of food people want to eat. Even people *****cieve nutrition assistance benefits can still be food insecure. This is a problem that affects 15.6 million people in the US. So far, the impact of food insecurity for people who have had bariatric surgery has not been studied.

We've conducted some research at Penn State Hershey's clinic and found that food insecurity is common in our community and can be a major barrier to making diet and lifestyle changes before surgery. This research is currently under review, and we hope that it will be published in 2019.

We're hoping to recruit a diverse group of people who've had bariatric surgery to take a survey about the prevalence and impact of food insecurity after bariatric surgery. We have the permission of ObesityHelp to recruit here, but before we post the survey, I wanted to introduce myself and give members of the forum a chance to ask questions or voice their concerns about this research. We hope to post the survey in the next couple days.

Hershey has a clinic? I would definitely go to a clinic at Hershey.

Hershey makes chocolate, not meat, Grim...so you won't eat it!! LOL

Chocolate is the meat of the cocoa tree.

So food insecurity is primarily based on economic conditions of the household or am I reading that wrong?

Hi! Yes, low income is a huge risk factor for food insecurity; people are often food insecure because they don't have enough money to buy food, either because of low income or having a lot of other expenses that their income can't meet. Other barriers exist too, like living in areas where access to healthy, affordable food is limited, like food deserts and rural areas.

Most of us eat protein rich foods, which are pretty abundant if a person is willing to actually cook. I just bought a 10lb package of leg quarters for 77 cents a pound. Eggs, cheeses, etc, are all inexpensive to get protein needs.

The crisis arises with the needs for supplementation. Those who cannot eat the protein their body needs (often the first year) will require protein supplements. For those with malabsorptive procedures (RNY and duodenal switch), they require a handful of pills daily of different supplements that their body malabsorbs from food. These are not what those little food desert vans carry. Megadoses of dry vitamina D and A (and E and K) do not require a prescription, but also not available over the counter, so we must purchase them online. These deficiencies can put a patient into a much greater crisis than food insecurity.

We completely agree--there are no questions about nutritional supplementation on the standard food insecurity questionnaires, so we believe that they are not fully capturing the experiences of people with special nutritional needs (including those who have had bariatric surgery and people managing chronic health conditions) who are food insecure. Thank you for making this great point!

Hana

i would like to be participate in the survey. i am on a limited income but i also had weight loss surgery not too long ago. for people that have limited resources for food its just easier to eat unhealthy, lots of carbs and sugar. even boxed meals that i got had alot of pasta and stuff that was high in sodium and calories. after the surgery i was told i had to eat alot of protein and this was something new to me. it was like how can i afford this? it has been hard at times but i do alot of comparison shopping, i use coupons now and i don't eat out anymore. plus i get fuller alot faster so i can stretch my meals alot further now. and yes i think i am doing pretty good.