The Food Insecurity & Mental Health Connection

Date: November 9th, 2017

Household food insecurity is operationally defined as the lack of access to food because of financial constraints. Household food insecurity has repeatedly been shown to have an adverse impact on physical health and nutrition. A growing body of evidence has also pointed to a detrimental association between household food insecurity and mental well-being. This presentation describes this association for a variety of mental health conditions across the lifespan and explores the mechanisms by which household food insecurity might be causal for mental health problems and the bi-directionality of the relationship.

About the presenter:

Dr. Lynn McIntyre is Professor Emerita of Community Health Sciences in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She retired from her active faculty position in November 2015.  She continues to be involved in household food insecurity research and in population health advancement. Dr. McIntyre holds both a medical degree and master’s degree in Community Health and Epidemiology from the University of Toronto. She is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada in Public Health and Preventive Medicine, and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.