Research Article 1 J Nutr Food Sci, Vol. 9 Iss. 4 No: 762 ISSN: 2155-9600 OPEN ACCESS Freely available online Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences J o u r n a l o f N u tr i t i o n & F o o d S c i e n c e s ISSN: 2155-9600 Relationship of Food Groups Intake and a Social Inclusion and Welfare Strategy among Mexican Beneficiaries Younger than 5 Years Old Teresa Shamah Levy 1 , Ignacio Méndez Gómez-Humarán 2 *, Verónica Mundo Rosas 1 , Brenda Martinez Tapia 1 , Erika Mayorga Borbolla 1 , Mauricio Hernández Ávila 3 1 Center for Evaluation Research and Surveys, National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico; 2 Center for Research in Mathematics, Aguascalientes Unit, Mexico; 3 Autonomous University of Guadalajara, Mexico ABSTRACT Introduction: A social inclusion and welfare strategy focused on the population living in poverty conditions and without food access was implemented during 2014 in Mexico. Objective: Assess the association of the participation in the social inclusion and welfare strategy and food insecurity condition with differences in food groups’ intake among children younger than five years of age. Methods: Comparative study of children under five years of age, including beneficiaries and no beneficiaries from a social inclusion and welfare strategy and two study periods (2014 and 2015). Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to assess the association of the intervention group, study period and food insecurity classification (FI), with the consumption of food groups. Classification and Regression Tree (CART) analysis was used to establish classification criteria for food group intake, FI and socioeconomic index. Results: Belonging to the second study period and being beneficiary from the social inclusion and welfare strategy were associated with increased consumption levels of meat, sugary drinks, fruits and vegetables; the consumption of these foods increased with food security. Conclusion: The social inclusion and welfare strategy had a significant positive effect on the diet of the beneficiary population. Nevertheless, it is necessary to encourage efficient public policies that guarantee food and nutrition security in Mexico. Keywords: Food insecurity; Food group intake; Mexican children INTRODUCTION Different countries of Latin America have problems related to food and nutrition, such as stunted growth due to undernutrition and food insecurity, are primarily associated with inequity in food access and availability, especially among vulnerable populations. Therefore, many of them have been directed towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), particularly number 2, Hunger Zero, which is intended to end hunger, achieve security and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture before 2030, demanding that the countries develop public policies that contribute to the improvement of the food systems so they would be able to provide food for the entire population in a sustainable way. For this purpose, various food programs and laws have been developed and implemented in Latin America to achieve this objective [1]. Such is the case of Brazil, where the government has implemented since 2003 the Bolsa Familia Program which is based on monetary transfers with the objective of benefiting families with children and adolescents from 0 to 17 years old living in poverty and extreme poverty [2]. Another case is Mexico, where has increased their efforts to address problems of food insecurity among low income populations, and has gathered plenty information that supports the efficacy and effectiveness of food assistance programs and supplemental nutrition programs on the reduction of anaemia and low height in the vulnerable population [3,4]. However, these initiatives are currently facing new challenges related to consumers’ Correspondence to: Ignacio Méndez-Gómez-Humarán, Center for Research in Mathematics, Aguascalientes Unit, Fray Bartolomé de las Casas 314, Barrio la Estación; Aguascalientes, Ags. Mexico. CP 20259, Tel: 52 449 9185061; E-mail: imendez@cimat.mx Received: May 22, 2019; Accepted: June 25, 2019; Published: July 16, 2019 Citation: Levy TS, Gómez-Humarán IM, Rosas VM, Tapia BM, Borbolla EM, Ávila MH (2019) Relationship of Food Groups Intake and a Social Inclusion and Welfare Strategy among Mexican Beneficiaries Younger than 5 Years Old. J Nutr Food Sci 9:762. doi: 10.4172/2155-9600.1000762 Copyright: © 2019 Levy TS. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.