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Breakout Session II—Hunger, Nutrition,
and Health: The Expanding Nutrition Assistance Agenda
Part 1: Food Security as the Foundation of
a Healthy Lifestyle
Moderator: Lynn Parker
Speakers: Deborah Frank,
Ronald Kleinman, Christine Olson
Recorders: Susan Ponemon,
Nick Gurick, Suzanne Rigby
Purpose: Widespread
deployment of nutrition assistance programs originated in the context
of poverty and income support. We now know that the effect of these
programs goes beyond reducing poverty-induced hunger to improving
diet, nutrition, and, ultimately, health. This session focused on
opportunities to build and strengthen the links between nutrition
assistance, good nutrition, and health. The session consisted of
two parts, each with a panel of three presenters.
Goal: To raise public consciousness of the links
among poverty, hunger, health, and self-sufficiency.
- Food Security and Chronic Disease Prevention
- Food Security, Cognitive Development, and Learning
- Food Security and the Health of Working Americans
The Relationship Between Hunger
and Development in Children
Deborah Frank, Boston Medical School
Hunger is a health problem. It is a child, adult,
mental, educational, political, and moral health issue. The effects
of hunger on health begin in the womb and continue through infancy
and childhood and into adulthood. Maternal malnutrition is a key
indicator of low birth weight, infant mortality, and permanent,
lasting disabilities. Low birth weight affects adult weight and
increases the risks for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and mental
health diseases.
The vulnerable period hypothesis states that there
are vulnerable periods of brain growth. Different parts of the brain
mature at different times. How we feed children before they get
to school affects their growth and development. Without food, children
push away emotional and physical worlds. Brain structure is sensitive
to hunger in early development, and brain function is susceptible
to hunger at any time. The best investment for the nation is to
feed babies.
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The Impact of Hunger on Children
Ronald Kleinman, Massachusetts General
Hospital
There is persistent hunger among children in the United
States. They need optimal nutrition to reach their potential, yet
40 percent of American children are victims of food insecurity.
Children look as though they are well nourished, but surveys reveal
that they do not eat the right foods. The CCHIP study defines hunger
as a mental and physical condition that comes from food insufficiency.
The study assessed food insufficiency and hunger in the United States
and found that 73 percent of poor children experienced periods of
not having enough to eat. Studies have correlated the relationship
of hunger, psychosocial development, malnutrition, and performance
in low-income children. They have shown that children who eat breakfast
have less psychosocial, behavioral, and attendance problems as well
as higher test scores. Breakfast is a good intervention for children.
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Defining Consequences of Food
Security and Hunger on Adult Health
Christine Olson, Cornell University
Social norms are very strong when it comes to caring
for and feeding family members. Parents and caregivers cut back
on their own food intakes so that their children can eat. By buffering
their children from hunger, the adults risk their own health and
well-being.
Adults in food-insecure households are at increased
risk of obesity because of binge-like eating patterns that may result
in overeating at times when food is available. Older adults who
are food insufficient consume diets of lower nutritional quality
and are twice as likely to be rated as having a poor health status.
- What are the implications for policy and programs?
- Food insecurity is a long-term health threat for
adults.
- It is an immediate health threat to adults who
are on medically prescribed diets.
- USDA should apply the growing body of research
to the design of the Food Stamp Program, which is at the front
line for promoting food security for adults.
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Audience Comments Following the Panel Presentations
- Develop a comprehensive national food security
policy that looks at food as a human right and a family need.
- Undertake studies that will present our legislators
with hard data about the nutritional needs of our diverse populations.
- Convince employers to pay their employees a living
wage.
- Redesign food stamps as a public health program
that allows clients to maintain their dignity and makes them feel
welcome and cared for, such as the WIC program.
- Increase food stamp allotments.
- Increase the allotments for recipients who are
on medically prescribed special diets.
- Use Electronic Benefit Transfer to fund approved
foods, and offer discounts for purchasing nutritionally desirable
foods.
- Make nutrition assistance programs more seamless
throughout the life cycle and easier to access.
- Treat people with dignity and eliminate the stigma
that discourages families from participating.
- Make breakfast, lunch, and snacks available free
to all children.
- Expand nutrition services to older adults to help
them stay healthy at home rather than having them institutionalized.
- Restore funding for the Nutrition Education and
Training Program and for food stamp nutrition education grants.
- Extend benefits to legal residents and aliens.
- Underscore "nutrition" in all of our assistance
programs.
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