Blog Action Day: Poverty robs families of proper nutrition

The issue
A household is considered food secure when the family doesn’t live in hunger or fear of starvation, so food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. Poor households often have a consistently difficult time affording quality food and typically end up with poor diets characterized by lots of starch and refined sugar. And as one expert put it, “…it's fair to assume, these people are not loading up on brown rice and quinoa [an organic grain]. So, we're talking about empty calories that predispose people to becoming overweight and definitely increase the risk for heart disease and diabetes.”

Key facts

In 2004, 11.9 percent of households in the United States were food insecure.
Rates of food insecurity in 2004 were higher for households below the poverty line (36.8 percent), households with children headed by a single woman (33 percent), African-American households (23.7 percent) and Hispanic households (21.7 percent).
A number of studies have demonstrated a strong association between food insecurity and obesity among low-income women.
Food insecurity results in poor quality diets, compromised child and adult health, mental health problems and educational deficits among children.
Federal child nutrition programs can play a crucial role in preventing both food insecurity and obesity, as well as in increasing economic security and improving nutritional intake.

What is proper nutrition?
Proper nutrition can be indicated in various ways, but I think the simplest indicator is the number of calories someone consumes during a given period of time. In addition, you have to look at the quality of the calories, including the intake of protein and nutrients. Within this realm, the index that pulls most strongly on most of our heartstrings is the level of child nutrition within a family or a community.

According to experts at faqs.org, food insecurity and malnutrition result in catastrophic amounts of human suffering. The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 60 percent of all childhood deaths in the developing world are associated with chronic hunger and malnutrition. In developing countries, persistent malnutrition leaves children weak, vulnerable, and less able to fight such common childhood illnesses as diarrhea, acute respiratory infections, malaria, and measles. Even children who are mildly to moderately malnourished are at greater risk of dying from these common diseases. Malnourished children in the United States suffer from poorer health status, compromised immune systems, and higher rates of illnesses such as colds, headaches, and fatigue.

Adolescents and adults also suffer adverse consequences of food insecurity and malnutrition. Malnutrition can lead to decreased energy levels, delayed maturation, growth failure, impaired cognitive ability, diminished capacity to learn, decreased ability to resist infections and illnesses, shortened life expectancy, increased maternal mortality, and low birth weight.

Food insecurity may also result in severe social, psychological, and behavioral consequences. Food-insecure individuals may manifest feelings of alienation, powerlessness, stress, and anxiety, and they may experience reduced productivity, reduced work and school performance, and reduced income earnings. Household dynamics may become disrupted because of a preoccupation with obtaining food, which may lead to anger, pessimism, and irritability. Adverse consequences for children include: higher levels of aggressive or destructive behavior, hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty with social interactions (e.g., more withdrawn or socially disruptive), increased passivity, poorer overall school performance, increased school absences, and a greater need for mental health care services (e.g., for depression or suicidal behaviors).

Why does this matter?
It’s obvious that poverty exposes families to many issues beyond a lack of adequate nutrition, but in all honesty, what could be more important that one’s health? Well-nourished mothers are more likely to give birth to well-nourished children who will attend school earlier, learn more, postpone dropping out, marry and have children later, give birth to fewer and healthier babies, earn more in their jobs, manage risk better and be less likely to fall prey to diet-related chronic diseases in midlife.

Food insecurity remains a significant international problem, with developing regions of the world enduring most of the burden. Food insecurity results in considerable health, social, psychological, and behavioral consequences and is undeniably linked to poverty. Despite international commitment, the number of food insecure individuals remains unacceptably high.