Women with disabilities are nearly twice as likely to rate their diet as poor and are more likely to experience food insecurity compared to women without disabilities, according to a new study.

Nearly one in five United States women age 18 to 44 reports having at least one disability related to hearing, vision, cognition, mobility, self-care, or independent living. However, there has been limited research on the diets of women with disabilities.

“Eating a nutritious diet is central to preventing many chronic diseases. For women of reproductive age, a healthy diet can also support good outcomes during and after pregnancy,” says Andrea Deierlein, associate professor of public health nutrition at New York University School of Global Public Health and lead author of the study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

“But a healthy diet requires access to healthy foods and the resources or ability to prepare them, and women with disabilities may face obstacles due to medical conditions or physical limitations.”

To better understand the diets of these women, the researchers analyzed data from the 2013 through 2018 waves of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The researchers asked 3,579 women, ages 18 to 44, about their food intake on a given day (which was calculated into diet quality scores) and other diet-related factors, including food security and participation in food assistance programs.

Women were also asked if they have a disability, which was defined as serious difficulty hearing, seeing, concentrating, walking, dressing, and/or running errands due to physical, mental, or emotional conditions. Sixteen percent of respondents reported having a disability and 6% reported having two or more types of disabilities.

There were few differences in women’s diet quality scores by their disability status, with the exception that women with two or more types of disabilities had slightly lower diet quality scores related to their intake of fruit and protein-rich foods like meat, nuts, and seafood.

Compared to women without disabilities, women with disabilities were more likely to rate their diet as poor and report their food security as low or very low. They were also more likely to consume frozen foods and participate in food assistance programs.

Read the full article about women with disabilities by Rachel Harrison at Futurity.