INTRODUCTION:

Food insecurity is characterized by any lack of guaranteed regular access to safe and adequate nutritional food, which may lead to inadequate eating habits and higher risk of obesity.

OBJECTIVES:

To characterize and study the associations between eating habits, anthropometric status and Food insecurity in a population group with social support for food purchases.

METHODOLOGY:

Cross-sectional study, which applied a survey including sociodemographic characteristics, anthropometric status, eating habits, Food insecurity and food products acquired through social support to the representatives of each household benefited by the “+ Alimentação” social support axis, part of the “Social +” program of the Municipality of Gondomar.

RESULTS:

From a total of 58 participants 70.7% (n = 41) were females and 58.6% (n = 34) lived alone. From the household representatives, 63.7% (n = 35) had overweight or obesity and 77.6% (n = 45) had moderate adherence to healthy eating habits, with 35.8% (n = 19) in a state of severe Food insecurity. Higher Body Mass Index was associated with higher Food insecurity (r = 0.380, p = 0.006) and older age was associated with healthier eating habits (r = 0.348, p = 0.007).

CONCLUSIONS:

More than half of the sample presented a moderate adherence to healthy eating habits. Higher Body Mass Index was associated with higher level of Food insecurity among individuals with social support for food purchases.

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