Culture and Nutrition Knowledge, and Their Relationship With Food Insecurity Among Rural Households in Kermanshah County, Iran

Food security is a key element in individual's mental, psychological, and physical health. Meanwhile, the food insecurity is a serious problem, especially in the underdeveloped and developing countries. Although availability, access, utilization, and stability are noted in the food security definitions, it seems that there are factors beyond the framework, which affect food security. Food insecurity depends on the consumption behavior and its underlying factors. In the meantime, the feeding pattern and habits, derived from the culture and knowledge of nutrition, also affect human health. The current study, in terms of the nature, is a quantitative research, and in terms of purpose is an applied research. The information was collected by a 2-part questionnaire including the researcher-made questionnaire and the household food insecurity access scale (HFIAS). A number of 258 heads of rural households was selected as the study sample from 11 villages in Kermanshah County, Iran, using the multistage sampling method. The results showed that while more than 58.5% of the rural households were in food security or mild food insecurity status, about 14.7% of the households faced with severe food insecurity. Results of structural equation modeling showed that nutrition knowledge had a negative and significant impact on food insecurity. The results also showed that nutrition knowledge had an indirect effect on food insecurity through nutrition culture, which should be considered in the food security studies.