Food insecurity in female Vietnamese marriage immigrants in South Korea

Previous studies have reported that the nutritional status of Vietnamese female marriage immigrants in Korea is inadequate; however no study has been conducted on food insecurity or insufficiency among them. This study presents food insecurity data from 322 Vietnamese female immigrants recruited from 8 local health centers between May and August in 2009 as part of a larger study of the Cohort of Intermarried Women in Korea. Four food insecurity questions of economic reasons and lack of adjustment to unfamiliar Korean foods were asked by face to face interviews. About 34.5% of subjects cut the size of meals or ate less than they felt and 40.7% of them ever skipped meals, because there was not enough money for food in the last one year. About 30.1% of subjects felt hungry and 46.3% of them had ever skipped meals (especially 10.6% of subjects skipped meals almost every month), because there was no food that they wanted to eat or no food for their appetite at home in the last one year. Both economic and adjustment difficulties may make these females food‐insecure. Our results point to the need for program outreach for low income, immigrant Vietnamese females in Korea. This work was supported by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Brain Korea 21 project.