Expanding the Limits of Sex: a Systematic Review Concerning Food and Nutrition in Transgender Populations

Overview

Journal Public Health Nutr

Publisher Cambridge University Press

Date 2021 Apr 19

PMID 33866993

Citations 8

Authors

Savio Marcelino Gomes

Michelle Cm Jacob

Cecilia Rocha

Maria Fa Medeiros

Clelia O Lyra

Luiz Ra Noro

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: To examine the literature and identify main themes, methods and results of studies concerning food and nutrition addressed in research on transgender populations.

Design: A systematic review conducted through July 2020 in the MedLine/PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases.

Results: Of the 778 studies identified in the databases, we selected thirty-seven. The studies were recent, most of them published after 2015, being produced in Global North countries. The most often used study design was cross-sectional; the least frequently used study design was ethnographic. Body image and weight control were predominant themes (n 25), followed by food and nutrition security (n 5), nutritional status (n 5), nutritional health assistance (n 1) and emic visions of healthy eating (n 1).

Conclusions: The transgender community presents body, food and nutritional relationships traversed by its unique gender experience, which challenges dietary and nutritional recommendations based on the traditional division by sex (male and female). We need to complete the lacking research and understand contexts in the Global South, strategically investing in exploratory-ethnographic research, to develop categories of analysis and recommendations that consider the transgender experience.

Citing Articles

Food insecurity, nutritional status and socioeconomic factors in the transgender population: a cross-sectional study in the Metropolitan Region of Baixada Santista, Brazil, 2023.

Gois I, Silva M, Barroso B, Luppi C, Vieira D, Bassichetto K Epidemiol Serv Saude. 2024; 33(spe1):e2024371.

PMID: 39504076 PMC: 11534073. DOI: 10.1590/S2237-96222024v33e2024371.especial.en.

Relationship between Food Habits, Nutritional Status, and Hormone Therapy among Transgender Adults: A Systematic Review.

Sousa I, Amaral T Nutrients. 2024; 16(19).

PMID: 39408248 PMC: 11478797. DOI: 10.3390/nu16193280.

Dietary Habits, Physical Activity and Body Mass Index in Transgender and Gender Diverse Adults in Italy: A Voluntary Sampling Observational Study.

Santangelo C, Marconi M, Ruocco A, Ristori J, Bonadonna S, Pivonello R Nutrients. 2024; 16(18).

PMID: 39339739 PMC: 11435112. DOI: 10.3390/nu16183139.

Food insecurity in a Brazilian transgender sample during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gomes S, Jacob M, Chaves V, Pereira de Sousa L, Signorelli M, de Oliveira D PLoS One. 2023; 18(5):e0284257.

PMID: 37163501 PMC: 10171619. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0284257.

Discrimination, Health, and Resistance for Thai Transgender Women.

Farber R J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2023; 11(2):1124-1138.

PMID: 37162741 DOI: 10.1007/s40615-023-01592-8.

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