Research

Mixed

Food insecurity in college students is significantly associated with higher odds of poor sleep quality, high perceived stress, disordered eating behaviors, and lower academic performance (GPA < 3.0).

If you are a student struggling with food access, recognize that this likely impacts your sleep, stress levels, and grades. Prioritize securing consistent nutrition. If your campus has a food pantry, use it despite any stigma, as it is designed to help you succeed academically and health-wise.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Multivariate logistic regression models adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics and meal plan enrollment indicated that food-insecure students had significantly higher odds of poor sleep quality (OR = 2.32, 95% CI: 1.43–3.76), high stress (OR = 4.65, 95% CI: 2.66–8.11), disordered eating behaviors (OR = 2.49, 95% CI: 1.20–4.90), and a GPA < 3.0 (OR = 1.91, 95% CI: 1.19–3.07) compared to food-secure students.
Aseel El Zein et al. · BMC Public Health · 2019

Why this rating

Multi-institutional cross-sectional study with large sample size (n=855) and multivariate adjustment, but observational design limits causal inference.

Source

Prevalence and correlates of food insecurity among U.S. college students: a multi-institutional study

Aseel El Zein et al. · BMC Public Health · 2019

DOI 10.1186/s12889-019-6943-6

cross_sectional · n=855Cited 284×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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