New research has found that food insecurity doesn’t just correlate with poor mental health, it actively causes it.
In a yearlong study published in PLOS Mental Health, researchers found that anxiety and depression symptoms increased when people experienced food insecurity and improved when food access returned.
The study tracked nearly 500 adults in the United Kingdom and France from September 2022 to August 2023. Each month, participants completed surveys about their ability to access enough food, along with two widely used questionnaires for anxiety and depression (GAD-7 and PHQ-8).
The results were striking: nearly 40% of participants experienced food insecurity during at least one month of the study, and their mental health symptoms rose and fell depending on their access to food. The researchers found that a person’s food security status in one month predicted their anxiety and depression levels the following month. The speed and size of the effect suggest that food insecurity itself, not just long-term nutritional deficiencies, can significantly impact emotional wellbeing.
“What really impressed us was how rapidly symptoms of anxiety and depression responded to changes in participants’ food insecurity status and the large size of the effects,” the authors wrote.
Their findings also point to a possible solution.
“Our results suggest that eliminating periodic food insecurity in those currently experiencing it could reduce the number of people with clinically concerning symptoms of anxiety and depression by 20 percentage points,” the authors added.
The study highlights food access as a public health issue that affects more than just physical health. By identifying food insecurity as a causal factor in mental health, the findings suggest that programs aimed at improving access to food could have rapid and meaningful effects on emotional wellbeing.
The research was led by Melissa Bateson of Newcastle University in collaboration with scientists from École Normale Supérieure, Northumbria University and the University of York. It was funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR), UK Prevention Research Partnership, National Institute for Health and Care Research, and the University of York Cost of Living Research Group. The funders had no role in the design, analysis or publication decisions.