To investigate the relationship between food insecurity (FI) and overweight/obesity (OW/OB) or corresponding chronic diseases in adolescents, 33 studies with 181 135 individuals were included in this meta-analysis. Six studies and 10 studies, reported a higher risk of overweight and obesity in adolescents experiencing FI, respectively (OR 1.38, 95% CI 1.20-1.58, P < 0.000 1; OR 1.11, 95% CI 1.01-1.22, P = 0.035, respectively). Based on the pooled results, adolescents with severe FI had the highest risk of OW/OB (OR 1.45, 95% CI 1.20-1.75, P < 0.000 1). The pooled OR indicated no significant association between FI and OW/OB, when the adolescents were stratifi ed into those under 6 years old and those between 6 and 18 years old. Eleven studies assessed the relationship between FI and the risk of chronic diseases. The anemia subgroup was significantly associated with FI (OR 1.67, 95% CI 1.30-2.13, P < 0.000 1). Severe FI was reported to increase the risk of hypertension (OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.28-1.98, P < 0.000 1). Furthermore, a pooled analysis revealed a significant association between FI and the risk of chronic diseases in both 6 and 6 -18-year-old subgroups. (c) 2023 Beijing Academy of Food Sciences. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).