Unemployment, precariousness, nutrition and health in a Spain in crisis

Unemployment and precariousness are one of the major determinants of poverty in Spain and have been aggravated by the economic crisis of the last decade. The lack of resources threatens the food security of families who are forced to adopt purchasing strategies that lead to a reduction in the consumption of fresh food and an increase in refined and ultraprocessed products. These high-calorie, low-nutritional value diets, coupled with sedentary lifestyles, lead to a double burden of malnutrition where obesity and micronutrient deficiencies coexist. Nutritional status largely determines the physical and mental health of individuals but this relationship is not direct and unidirectional. All of the above factors feed off each other and are in turn crossed by other transversal elements such as energy poverty, globalization, gender inequality or access to education and health services, among others. Multisectoral interventions such as integral social-labour insertion itineraries and collaboration between public and private entities are essential to ensure the health and well-being of the most vulnerable groups.