Invasive colonial influences and continuing neoliberal policies have a detrimental impact on Land, health, food and culture for Indigenous Communities. Food security and sovereignty have significant impacts on Indigenous well-being and, specifically, oral health. Aspects relating to food security, such as availability of nutritious foods, are a common risk factor of oral diseases. This scoping review aimed to collate existing evidence regarding the relationship between food sovereignty and/or food security and oral health for Indigenous Communities, globally.

Four databases were searched using keywords related to ‘Food security’ or ‘Food sovereignty,’ ‘Indigenous Peoples’ and ‘Oral health.’ Duplicates were removed, and two independent reviewers screened the titles and abstracts to identify articles for full-text review. Extracted data were summarised narratively, presenting a conceptual model which illustrates the findings and relationships between food security and/or food sovereignty and oral health.

The search identified 369 articles, with forty-one suitable for full-text review and a final nine that met inclusion criteria. The impact of food security and food sovereignty on oral health was discussed across different populations and sample sizes, ranging from eighteen Kichwa families in Brazil to 533 First Nations and Metis households in Canada. Pathways of influence between food sovereignty and/or food security are explored clinically, quantitatively and qualitatively across oral health outcomes, including early childhood caries, dental caries and oral health-related quality of life for Indigenous Communities.

Innovative strategies underpinned by concepts of Indigenous food sovereignty are needed to promote oral health equity for Indigenous Communities. The nexus between oral health and Indigenous food sovereignty remains largely unexplored, but has immense potential for empowering Indigenous rights to self-determination of health that honour Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing.

To estimate the effect of income change on difficulty accessing food since the COVID-19 pandemic for South African youth and evaluate whether this effect was modified by receiving social grants.

A cross-sectional, online survey was conducted between December 2021 and May 2022. Primary outcome was increased difficulty accessing food since the COVID-19 pandemic. Income change was categorised as ‘Decreased a lot’, ‘Decreased slightly’ and ‘Unchanged or increased’. Multivariable logistic regressions were used, with an interaction term between social grant receipt and income change.

eThekwini district, South Africa.

Youth aged 16–24 years.

Among 1,620 participants, median age was 22 years (IQR 19–24); 861 (53 %) were women; 476 (29 %) reported increased difficulty accessing food; 297 (18 %) reported that income decreased a lot, of whom 149 (50 %) did not receive social grants. Experiencing a large income decrease was highly associated with increased difficulty accessing food during the COVID-19 pandemic (adjusted OR [aOR] 3·63, 95 % CI 2·70, 4·88). The aOR for the effect of a large income decrease on difficulty accessing food, compared to no income change, were 1·49 (95 % CI 0·98, 2·28) among participants receiving social grants, and 6·63 (95 % CI 4·39, 9·99) among participants not receiving social grants.

While social grant support made a great difference in lowering the effect of income decrease on difficulty accessing food, it was insufficient to fully protect youth from those difficulties. In post-pandemic recovery efforts, there is a critical need to support youth through economic empowerment programming and food schemes.

The present study investigated potential predictors of food insecurity among UK university students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Close-ended questionnaire administered to a cross-sectional sample of UK university students.

Data were collected using an online survey platform in October 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A nationally representative sample of UK university students (n 640).

Odds ratios (OR) obtained from logistic regression were statistically significant for three measures of economic hardship. First, students who relied on financial aid from student loans were 1·9 times more likely to report being food insecure than students who did not rely on financial aid from student loans. Second, students who could not pay their utility bill (v. those that could pay) were 3·1 times the odds of being food insecure. Finally, as perceived difficulty in paying for accommodation increased across the sample, the odds of being food insecure also increased (OR = 1·9). We also found that students who were recently ill were 2·2 times more likely to be food insecure compared with students who were not recently ill. We did not find any evidence that testing positive for COVID-19 predicted food insecurity, and university supplied food parcels/boxes did not reduce student food insecurity.

Both economic factors and illness play a significant role in self-reported food insecurity in higher education students during pandemic lockdown. Further research is needed to explore food insecurity, economic factors and illness outside of a pandemic context.

Agricultural research is vital for sustainable food production, amid changing challenges. To address these challenges effectively and achieve sustainable food systems, researchers and funding bodies have to prioritize research efforts. We conducted horizon scanning to determine how rice systems might change by 2050 and to identify key research gaps. The study involved 101 rice experts from 31 countries who rated the research gaps based on novelty and relevance. The top 25 research gaps encompass sustainability, agricultural development, rice crop science (including genetics, breeding, and physiology), and policies. Addressing these research gaps will contribute toward the sustainability of rice systems.

Agricultural research and development (AgR&D) is crucial for increasing productivity while preserving natural capital and ensuring sustainable food security. Traditional AgR&D approaches along monodisciplinary lines often have unintended consequences and trade-offs, which can be avoided through integrated and interdisciplinary approaches. One such approach is horizon scanning. We conducted a horizon-scanning activity to identify research gaps to be prioritized for sustainable rice systems by 2050. The horizon scan involved a global and diverse panel of rice experts (101 from 31 countries). The panel responded to questionnaires on the drivers, projections, and research needs for rice AgR&D. Afterward, research gaps were rated on their relevance and novelty to sustainable rice systems. We identified the top 25 research gaps under four themes: sustainability interactions, agricultural development, genetics, breeding and crop physiology, and governance and policies. These gaps highlight research that needs to be prioritized to achieve sustainable rice systems that enhance resilience, conserve biodiversity, and promote socio-economic well-being.

Rice experts select top rice research gaps for achieving sustainable rice systems by 2050.

Food system challenges exacerbate inequalities in access to fresh healthy food and threaten food security. Lack of food security, referred to as food insecurity, is associated with poorer physical and mental health outcomes and has been identified as a key challenge to address by calls for food system transformation. Increasing food production through urban agriculture, the production of fruit and vegetables in urban areas, has been identified as a potentially effective contributor to food system transformation, but the effect of this on household or UK-level food security is unclear. This paper reviews international evidence of urban agriculture’s impact on food security.

Narrative review.

This paper reviews international evidence of urban agriculture’s impact on food security.

Previously published international research.

Whilst findings are mixed, available evidence suggests that urban agriculture makes a modest, yet positive, contribution to food security by facilitating the availability of and access to fresh fruit and vegetables to food insecure households.

Capitalising on the potential for urban agriculture to benefit food security requires government investment and support at both the national and local levels; therefore, increasing access to land for food growing, reducing costs of related resources and collaboration with existing community groups to enhance sharing of skills and expertise are identified as avenues for exploration that may help to achieve this. This review also highlights opportunities for future research in this field that may strengthen the quality of the evidence supporting urban agriculture’s impact on food security.

In 2015, the United Nations articulated the ambition to move toward a prosperous, socially inclusive, and environmentally sustainable future for all by adopting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, little is known about the pathways that could lead to their concurrent achievement. We provide an overview of the current literature on quantitative pathways toward the SDGs, indicate the commonly used methods and indicators, and identify the most comprehensive pathways that have been published to date. Our results indicate that there is a need for more scenarios toward the full set of SDGs, using a wider range of underlying narratives.

Quantitative goal-seeking scenario studies could help to explore the needed systems' transformations to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by identifying enabling conditions and accounting for the synergies and trade-offs between the SDGs. Given that the SDGs were adopted some time ago, here, we review the existing global scenario literature to determine what it can offer in this context. We found only a few scenarios that address a large set of SDGs, while many more deal with specific clusters of 2–6 SDGs. We identified the most frequent clusters and compared the results of the most comprehensive sustainable development scenarios. The latter is complicated because of the diversity of methods, indicators, and assumptions used. Therefore, we suggest that an effort is needed to develop a wider set of scenarios that would achieve multiple SDGs, using a more standardized framework of targets and indicators.

This study reviews the current global pathways toward the SDGs and shows the need for a broader set of SDG scenarios.

Food insecurity may reduce diet quality, but the relationship between food insecurity severity and diet quality is under-researched. This study aimed to examine the relationship between diet quality and severity of household food insecurity.

A cross-sectional, online survey used the United States Department of Agriculture Household Food Security Six-item Short Form to classify respondents as food secure or marginally, moderately or severely food insecure. The Australian Recommended Food Score (ARFS; scored 0–73) determined diet quality (ARFS total and sub-scale scores). Survey-weighted linear regression (adjusted for age, sex, income, education, location and household composition) was conducted.

Tasmania, Australia.

Community-dwelling adults (aged 18 years and over).

The mean ARFS total for the sample (n 804, 53 % female, 29 % aged > 65 years) was 32·4 (sd = 9·8). As the severity of household food insecurity increased, ARFS total decreased. Marginally food-insecure respondents reported a mean ARFS score three points lower than food-secure adults (B = –2·7; 95 % CI (–5·11, –0·34); P = 0·03) and reduced by six points for moderately (B = –5·6; 95 % CI (–7·26, –3·90); P < 0·001) and twelve points for severely food-insecure respondents (B = –11·5; 95 % CI (–13·21, –9·78); P < 0·001). Marginally food-insecure respondents had significantly lower vegetable sub-scale scores, moderately food-insecure respondents had significantly lower sub-scale scores for all food groups except dairy and severely food-insecure respondents had significantly lower scores for all sub-scale scores.

Poorer diet quality is evident in marginally, moderately and severely food-insecure adults. Interventions to reduce food insecurity and increase diet quality are required to prevent poorer nutrition-related health outcomes in food-insecure populations in Australia.

To evaluate the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the US Adult Food Security Survey Module (AFSSM).

A cross-sectional study collected data from 117 university students. The AFSSM questionnaire was completed by all participants. Psychometric evaluation for scale, content, construct, and convergent validity and reliability of the scale was tested. The construct validity was assessed by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on data collected from university students. Cronbach’s α (internal consistency) and composite reliability were used to assess the reliability (P < 0·05).

Students were recruited from the university.

This research was conducted with volunteer university students with a mean age of 22·74 ± 4·19 years.

Three factors were extracted from eight items through EFA: (1) inadequate nutrition, (2) economic concern and (3) hunger. These factors accounted for 77·4 % of the total variance, and factor loadings ranged from 0·755 to 0·953. Cronbach’s α was 0·769. The results of the CFA suggested the fit indices were acceptable (χ2/sd = 0·235, root mean error of approximation: 0·034, goodness-of-fit index: 0·994, comparative fit index: 0·992 and normed fit index: 0·986).

This is the first study that validates and reports the Turkish version of AFSSM in university students, and the results of our study show that the Turkish AFSSM is a valid and reliable tool for determining food security in university students. AFSSM can be used by researchers to examine the food security of university students.

The WHO has urged member states to develop preparedness plans for infant and young child feeding (IYCF) during emergencies. Ireland has no such plan. We aimed to identify the needs of caregivers in Ireland with regards IYCF during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Online survey conducted in May–June 2020.

Ireland, during the first period of severely restricted movement due to COVID-19 (lockdown).

Respondents (n 745) were primary caregivers of a child under 2 years; they were primarily well educated and likely of higher socio-economic status.

Among those who breastfed, being unable to access breast-feeding support groups and being unable to access in-person, one-to-one breast-feeding assistance were the biggest challenges reported. Nearly three quarters of those who had their babies during lockdown reported these challenges: 72·8 % and 68·8 %, respectively. For those using formula, the main challenges were structural in nature; approximately two-thirds of those who had their baby prior to lockdown feared there would be formula shortages and a third were unable to purchase formula due to shortages.

Regardless of how their babies were fed, parents in Ireland experienced multiple challenges with infant feeding during the COVID-19 crisis. Breast-feeding should be protected, supported and promoted, particularly during an infectious disease pandemic. Additionally, assurances around supply of infant formula could reduce parental stress during a pandemic or emergency. An IYCF in emergencies plan would clearly set out how we could best support and protect the nutrition of the most vulnerable members of our population.

Global conflicts and the pandemic reveal the risks of food import reliance. In the UK, pandemic, Brexit, and Ukraine war caused food price spikes. To bolster food security, the UK needs to produce and consume more domestically, including nutrient-rich bivalve mollusks. Current mollusk exports hinder domestic food sources. Promoting domestic consumption through convenient, attractive products and taxing unhealthy processed foods can help. Reducing reliance on food trade is crucial amid global instability and climate change. The UK's mollusk export issues illustrate food security risks of excessive reliance on international trade.

Here we examine the critical issue of food security in the context of international volatility, emphasizing the risks associated with an excessive reliance on food trade. The UK's experience with disruptions caused by the pandemic, Brexit, and the Ukraine war, resulting in a significant surge in food prices, serves as a pertinent case study. The research underscores the potential benefits of increasing domestic food production and consumption to enhance resilience against global events. The UK's current production, export, and import statistics are analyzed, with a particular focus on the fish and seafood sector. The study highlights the bivalve mollusk industry, such as blue mussels, as an example of an underutilized domestic resource. Bivalve mollusks are rich in essential micronutrients, yet their consumption in the UK is low compared to other countries. We propose strategies to boost domestic demand, including incorporating bivalve meat into processed food products, utilizing advanced technologies to improve taste and texture, and government intervention through taxes on unhealthy processed foods to promote better nutritional profiles. In summary, the study emphasizes the need for greater self-sufficiency in food production to mitigate vulnerabilities resulting from an overreliance on food trade in the context of international conflicts and climate change.

Failure to effectively utilize domestic food resources and overreliance on trade threatens food security in an increasingly volatile world.

To review and synthesize studies on household food security in South Africa.

Systematic mapping review of metrics (methodological review).

Electronic databases, including EBSCOHost, Scopus and Web of Science, were searched for studies and reports on household food security in South Africa, reporting household food security published between 1999 and 2021. Searching, selecting and reporting were performed according to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement.

South African households

Forty-eight articles reporting on six national surveys (one repeated annually since 2002) and forty sub-national studies meeting the inclusion criteria were selected. Various metrics, with different recall periods and ways of categorizing food security levels, were identified. Surveys that used similar metrics showed that the percentage of South African households that have experienced food insecurity and hunger has decreased over the review period yet remains concerning. However, the multitude of metrics used to assess the different components and levels of food security limits the comparability of the results to evaluate the scope and scale of the problem.

There is growing support for developing multi-variable approaches for food security research in sub-Saharan Africa. Future research should focus on finding the most appropriate combination of complementary metrics that would allow comparable data while holistically capturing food security and providing insight into the causes and consequences.