A biocultural study of the linkages between economic and social insecurity, diet quality, and obesity in urban Mexican adults

该项目旨在通过人类学、社会政策和营养学等跨学科方法，测试墨西哥城成年人的社会经济不安全感、饮食和肥胖之间的关系。在富裕的西方社会进行的一些研究表明，不安全感与腹部肥胖的增加有关，不安全感被定义为无法获得或积累足够的资源来抵御不利的未来环境。然而，迄今为止还没有研究确定中低收入国家的社会经济不安全、粮食不安全和肥胖在个人层面上是如何相互作用的。探索这种联系的少数研究只评估了人口层面的粮食不安全或不平等。采用一种新的生物文化方法，将定性人类学研究方法与不安全感、饮食模式和人体测量学的定量测量相结合，该研究项目将确定“福利假设”的合理性，该假设将薄弱的国家福利结构与肥胖联系起来。在（后）COVID-19社会中，这项研究将对危机情况下福利保护的影响以及放大的不安全感与心理健康、饮食和体重之间的直接联系产生重要见解。

The proposed project aims to test the association between socio-economic insecurity, diet and obesity in adults in Mexico City using interdisciplinary approaches from anthropology, social policy, and nutrition. Insecurity, defined as the inability to access or accumulate sufficient resources to protect against adverse future circumstances, has been linked to greater abdominal obesity in a few studies conducted in affluent western societies. However, to date no study has identified how socio-economic insecurity, food insecurity and obesity interact at the individual level in Low-and-Middle income countries. The few studies that have explored this link have only assessed either food insecurity, or inequality but on a population level. Using a novel bio-cultural approach combining qualitative anthropological research methods and quantitative measures of insecurity, dietary patterns, and anthropometry, this research project will determine the plausibility of the 'welfare hypothesis', which links weak national welfare structures with obesity.In a (post) COVID-19 society, this study will generate key insights around the effects of welfare protections in crisis situations, and the direct links between magnified insecurity and mental wellbeing, diet, and body weight.