[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-408556-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-408556-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","food-insecurity-food-assistance-and-physical-and-cognitive-functioning-among-older-americans","Food insecurity, food assistance, and physical and cognitive functioning among older Americans","","Food insecurity is linked to disability, dementia, and mortality, yet its effect on changes in physical and cognitive functioning—and the role of food assistance—remains unclear. This research analyzed US adults aged 50+ (n=6489) using weighted generalized estimating equations and Health and Retirement Study waves through 2020. Greater food insecurity predicted lower baseline physical and cognitive functioning and poorer physical decline. Food assistance related to baseline physical function and may attenuate physical declines. Strengthening policies encouraging assistance participation could improve health outcomes.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/","Healthcare",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/food-insecurity-food-assistance-and-physical-and-cognitive-functioning-among-older-americans/408556/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/food-insecurity-food-assistance-and-physical-and-cognitive-functioning-among-older-americans/408556.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"hdkawk","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-31","2026-09-28",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",8,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What relationship did the study find between food insecurity and physical functioning over time?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Greater food insecurity was associated with lower baseline physical functioning and showed marginal evidence of greater decline over time in adjusted models.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How was food assistance associated with physical and cognitive functioning?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Food assistance was associated only with baseline physical functioning and suggested attenuation of physical decline; it was linked to lower baseline cognitive functioning but did not associate with change over time.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What does the study conclude about policy and health outcomes for older adults?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Food insecurity is associated with poorer physical and cognitive functioning. Promoting participation in food assistance programs may help mitigate physical decline and improve outcomes among older adults.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},408556,1790727125,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,40,"healthcare",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":107,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":112,"preview_page_count":4},3985747859855,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","OPEN ACCESS  \nCitation: Dhakal U, El Asmar K,  \nMendes deLeon CF (2025) Food insecurity, food assistance, and physical and cognitive functioning among older Americans. PLoS One 20(12): e0339720. [https://doi.org/10.1371/](https://doi.org/10.1371/)[ ](https://doi.org/10.1371/)[journal.pone.0339720](journal.pone.0339720)  \nEditor: António Raposo, Lusofona University of Humanities and Technologies: Universidade Lusofona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, PORTUGAL  \nReceived: October 23, 2025  \nAccepted: December 11, 2025  \nPublished: December 31, 2025  \nCopyright: © 2025 Dhakal et al. 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.  \nData availability statement: Data are owned by a third party and require user registration for access. Data used for this study can be downloaded from the HRS website by registered users ([https://hrsonline.isr.umich.edu/](https://hrsonline.isr.umich.edu/)).  \nRESEARCH ARTICLE  \nFood insecurity, food assistance, and physical and cognitive functioning among older Americans  \nUsha Dhakal1*, Khalil El Asmar2, Carlos F. Mendes deLeon3  \n1 Department of Oncology, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America, 2 Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, 3 Department of Global Health, Georgetown University, Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America  \n* [ud35@georgetown.edu](ud35@georgetown.edu)  \nAbstract  \nIntroduction  \nFood insecurity is associated with adverse late-life health outcomes, including disability, dementia, and mortality. But its role in changes in physical and cognitive functioning remains unclear, as does the impact of food assistance.  \nMethods  \nWe used weighted generalized estimating equations to investigate the association between food insecurity, food assistance, and physical and cognitive functioning among US adults aged 50 years and older (n = 6489) . Using 2014 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) wave as the baseline, we extracted individual-level data from a HRS subsample from the 2013 Health Care and Nutrition Study and linked it to three additional HRS waves through 2020. This study included two outcome measures. First, physical functioning, a summary score of nine items that assessed difficulties in performing everyday physical activities (range 0–9), with higher scores indicating lower physical functioning. Second cognitive functioning, a composite score based on four cognitive tasks (range 0–27), with higher scores indicating better cognitive functioning.  \nResults  \nIn fully adjusted models, greater food insecurity was associated with lower physical functioning at baseline (β = 0.074 [95% CI 0.019, 0. 129]) and showed marginal evidence of higher decline over time (0 .010 [0 .000, 0.020], p = .058) . Food assistance was only associated with baseline physical functioning (−0·011 [−0·047, 0·025]) . The triple interaction between food insecurity, food assistance, and time suggested that food assistance may attenuate declines in physical functioning (−0 .014 [−0 .030,  \nPLOS One | [https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0339720](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0339720) December 31, 2025 1 / 12  \nFunding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.  \nCompeting interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.  \n0.002], p = .078) . Greater food insecurity (−0 .206 [−0 .305, −0 . 107]) and food assistance (−1 .215 [−1 .582, −0 .848]) were associated with lower baseline cognitive functioning, but neither was associated with change over time. Food assistance did not moderate the association between food insecurity and changes in cognitive functioning over time.  \nConclusions  \nFood insecurity is associated with poorer physical and cognitive functioning in older adul","cbCaiiFVSfuSySWe","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiiFVSfuSySWe","pdf",450221,12,"English","# Abstract\n## Introduction\n## Methods\n## Results\n## Conclusions","[{\"question\":\"What relationship did the study find between food insecurity and physical functioning over time?\",\"answer\":\"Greater food insecurity was associated with lower baseline physical functioning and showed marginal evidence of greater decline over time in adjusted models.\"},{\"question\":\"How was food assistance associated with physical and cognitive functioning?\",\"answer\":\"Food assistance was associated only with baseline physical functioning and suggested attenuation of physical decline; it was linked to lower baseline cognitive functioning but did not associate with change over time.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the study conclude about policy and health outcomes for older adults?\",\"answer\":\"Food insecurity is associated with poorer physical and cognitive functioning. Promoting participation in food assistance programs may help mitigate physical decline and improve outcomes among older adults.\"}]","Food insecurity, food assistance, and physical and cognitive functioning among older Americans | PDF",1790579750]