Using syndemic theory to understand food insecurity and diet-related chronic diseases

• Published in: Social science & medicine (1982) Vol. 295; p. 113124
• Main Authors: Himmelgreen, David, Romero-Daza, Nancy, Heuer, Jacquelyn, Lucas, William, Salinas-Miranda, Abraham A., Stoddard, Theresa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2022; Pergamon Press Inc
• Subjects: Age groups; Chronic Disease; Chronic illnesses; COVID-19; Demography; Diet; Diet-related chronic diseases; Disease; Food Insecurity; Food security; Health disparities; Health status; Healthy food; Humans; Infectious diseases; Insecurity; Life course; Life history; Life history theory; Literature reviews; Medical anthropology; Mental health; Noncommunicable diseases; Pandemics; Public health; Race; SARS-CoV-2; Social inequality; Syndemic; Syndemics; Theory; Food insecurity; Diet-related chronic diseases; Medical anthropology; Life history theory; Public health; Syndemics
• ISSN: 0277-9536; 1873-5347
• DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113124

Syndemic Theory (ST) provides a framework to examine mutually enhancing diseases/health issues under conditions of social inequality and inequity. ST has been used in multiple disciplines to address interacting infectious diseases, noncommunicable diseases, and mental health conditions. The theory has been critiqued for its inability to measure disease interactions and their individual and combined health outcomes. This article reviews literature that strongly suggests a syndemic between food insecurity (FI) and diet-related chronic diseases (DRCDs), and proposes a model to measure the extent of such interaction. The article seeks to: (1) examine the potential syndemic between FI and DRCDs; (2) illustrate how the incorporation of Life History Theory (LHT), into a syndemic framework can help to highlight critical lifeperiods when FI-DRCD interactions result in adverse health outcomes; (3) discuss the use of mixed methods to identify and measure syndemics to enhance the precision and predictive power of ST; and (4) propose an analytical model for the examination of the FI-DRCD syndemic through the life course. The proposed model is more relevant now given the significant increase in FI globally as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The differential impact that the pandemic appears to have among various age groups and by other demographic factors (e.g., race, gender, income) offers an opportunity to examine the potential FI-DRCD syndemic under the lens of LHT. •Systematic review of literature on Food Insecurity and Diet Related Chronic Diseases.•New conceptual model of Food Insecurity and Diet Related Chronic Disease Syndemic.•Use of qualitative and quantitative methods and Life History Theory.•Use of Structural Equation Modeling to identify and measure syndemics.