Racial/Ethnic Discrimination and Food Consumption: Examination in Diverse Samples

Lay Summary Experiencing racial discrimination may undermine health through effects on health behavior, including patterns of food consumption. In two studies, we tested whether racial discrimination was linked with food consumption, specifically the frequency with which people ate healthy and unhealthy foods. We investigated both lifetime exposure to discrimination as well as more recent (past-week) exposure as predictors of food consumption. Study 1 focused on racially and ethnically diverse adults from New York City (NYC); Study 2 focused on American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) adults from the Denver metro area. Overall, we found that higher levels of discrimination were associated with more frequent consumption of both unhealthy and healthy food. The timing of discrimination mattered. Higher levels of discrimination within the past-week were associated with more frequent consumption of healthy and unhealthy foods. In contrast, higher levels of lifetime discrimination were associated only with more frequent consumption of unhealthy food. The links between discrimination and food consumption remained significant controlling for socioeconomic status. The relations of discrimination to food consumption were similar across the diverse sample from NYC and the AI/AN sample from Denver. These findings may help researchers understand how discrimination may contribute to health disparities. Background Racial/ethnic discrimination has been linked to poor health outcomes. Effects of discrimination on health behaviors, including patterns of food consumption, may contribute to health outcomes. Purpose We examined relations of discrimination to consumption of healthy and unhealthy foods in two diverse samples. Structural equation modeling was used to examine variations in associations of discrimination to consumption by the timing and type of discrimination, for healthy vs. unhealthy food, and by sample. Methods Study 1 included a racially and ethnically diverse sample of adults from New York City (NYC: N = 157); Study 2 included a sample of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) adults from the Denver metro area (N = 303), many of whom also identified with other racial/ethnic groups. Participants completed self-report measures of racial/ethnic discrimination, food consumption, life stressors, and sociodemographic variables. Results Structural equation models indicated discrimination was associated with food consumption. Tests of model invariance indicated that the model of discrimination to food consumption can be applied to both samples. Discrimination within the past-week was associated with more frequent consumption of both unhealthy and healthy foods, whereas lifetime discrimination was associated with more frequent consumption only of unhealthy foods. Conclusions The data were limited to self-report measures and only the frequency of consumption was assessed. The findings suggest discrimination may contribute to health disparities through effects on food consumption. Differential effects for past-week and lifetime discrimination suggest that multiple mechanisms may be involved.