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Multiple studies have been conducted to determine whether food insecurity is associated with asthma and, if so, to evaluate the extent of such a relationship. However, results are conflicting, as shown by brief descriptions of four studies published in PLOS ONE, The Journal of Nutrition, BMJ Open and Pediatrics, and discussed by a study author in a Healio article. Inhalation OctOber 2021 35 Survey, they conducted a retro- spective cohort study of children less than 18 years old in Ontario, Canada. Among the 27,746 included children, 5.1% lived in food insecure households. ey concluded that "food insecure children have numerous medical and social challenges. However, [they] did not observe that child- hood food insecurity was asso- ciated with an increased risk of incident asthma when adjusted for important clinical and socioeco- nomic confounders." PLOS ONE. June 9, 2021. https://journals.plos. org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/ journal.pone.0252301. Associated. A team led Mang- ini, LD, et al. has published mul- tiple papers on the topic. e objective of the study described in their 2015 paper, "Household Food Insecurity is Associated with Childhood Asthma," was "to determine the association between food insecurity and asthma in a diverse sample of children." e authors analyzed cross-sectional data from 11,099 third graders from the Early Childhood Lon- gitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort. ey concluded that "food insecurity is positively asso- ciated with asthma in US third graders, and household poverty strengthens the association." e Journal of Nutrition. October 21, 2015. https://academic.oup.com/jn/ article/145/12/2756/4585668. Associated. eir further study, "Timing of Household Food Insecurity Exposures and Asthma in a Cohort of US School-Aged Children," published in 2019, evaluated the association between exposure to food insecurity in early childhood and the odds of asthma later in childhood. It also used data from the Early Child- hood Longitudinal Study—Kin- dergarten Cohort, which resulted in 6,731 participants. e study concluded that "food insecurity in the year before kindergarten and in second grade were associ- ated with a higher odds of asthma in third grade. Food insecurity with allergies who are experienc- ing food insecurity. In addition, FEI collaborates with healthcare providers, local and national non- profit organizations, government agencies, schools and food manu- facturers to assist clients. References Content for this article was based on and excerpted from: • Ronayne Kathleen, Food aller- gies complicate hungry Ameri- cans' search for meals, AP News, June 10, 2021. https://apnews. com/article/food- allergies- health-allergies-coronavirus- pandemic-8da1963de9355b4 d375f9955265689bb. • Food Equality Initiative. https:// foodequalityinitiative.org. • Feeding America. https://www. feedingamerica.org/search/ node?q=food+insecurity+defi nition Is food insecurity associated with asthma? Study results conflict Multiple studies have been con- ducted to determine whether food insecurity is associated with asthma and, if so, to evaluate the extent of such a relationship. How- ever, results are conflicting as the following brief descriptions show. Not Associated. In "Childhood Food Insecurity and Incident Asthma: A Population-Based Cohort Study of Children in Ontario, Canada" by Clemens, et al., the authors noted that "child- hood food insecurity has been associated with prevalent asthma in cross-sectional studies [yet] lit- tle is known about the relation- ship between food insecurity and incident asthma." Using adminis- trative databases linked with the Canadian Community Health Porchlight Community Services e AP article also discussed Porchlight Community Services, a San Diego pantry dedicated to serving people with food allergies. In 2016, it was founded by Clau- dia Montenegro, who was strug- gling to afford allergy-friendly foods for her gluten and dairy intolerances. She and friends decided to pool their money in order to buy in bulk and shop at sales. News of their work spread and soon she was distributing food from her porch. Nowadays, Porchlight is a volunteer- operated food pantry that serves cli- ents who are allergic to nuts, dairy, gluten and wheat, shellfish, egg and soy, as well as those who are diabetic. Clients are asked to pay $35 per week if they can, but those who cannot are still welcome. Vol- unteers purchase all of the food and shoppers can choose items such as coconut-based yogurts, nut but- ters, lactose-free milk and gluten- free flour. Gathering more data According to the AP article, Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) estimates that 32 million people have a food allergy and 85 million people live in a household where someone has a food allergy or intolerance. However, there is little or no comprehensive data. To address this, Brown is working with the Center for Food Allergy & Asthma Research at Northwest- ern University to gather informa- tion about the number of people A definition of food insecurity Feeding America, a network of more than 200 food banks and one of the largest such organizations in the United States, defines food insecurity as "a lack of consistent access to enough food for every per- son in a household to live an active, healthy life."