Health Consequences of Hunger

Hunger and undernutrition contribute to a number of negative health consequences:

		A joint analysis released by the Center on Hunger and Poverty at Brandeis University and the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) shows how hunger and obesity not only pose separate and distinct health risks, but also can co-exist in the same household.
		According to FRAC's survey of families living below 185 percent of poverty -- the Community Childhood Hunger Identification Project (CCHIP) -- hungry children suffer from two to four times as many individual health problems, such as unwanted weight loss, fatigue, headaches, irritability, inability to concentrate and frequent colds, as low-income children whose families do not experience food shortages. This relationship between hunger and health problems was unaffected by income. In other words, hunger had a strong effect on children's health no matter what the income level of their families.
		According to CCHIP, hungry children are more likely to be ill and absent from school.
		The infant mortality rate is closely linked to inadequate quantity or quality in the diet of the infant's mother. In 1996, the infant mortality rate in the United States was 7.3 deaths per 1,000 live births. Black infants in the U.S. died at more than twice the rate of white infants, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
		Stunting (low height for age) in children results from inadequate nutrition. According to the U.S. Public Health Service, the Surgeon General's 1990 goal of eliminating growth retardation of infants and children caused by inadequate diets was not met because significant numbers of low-income children continued to suffer retarded growth. In 1992, almost twice as many low-income children as would be expected were short for their age.
		Iron-deficiency anemia in children can lead to adverse health effects such as developmental and behavioral disturbances that can affect children's ability to learn to read or do mathematics, and increased susceptibility to lead poisoning. Anemia remains a significant health problem among low-income children, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
		Pregnant women who are undernourished are more likely to have low-birthweight babies. These infants are more likely to suffer delays in their development and are more likely to have behavior and learning problems later in life.
		Hungry children are less likely to interact with other people or explore or learn from their surroundings. This interferes with their ability to learn from a very early age.
		Hunger has a negative impact on children's ability to learn in school. School-aged children who are hungry cannot concentrate or do as well as others on the tasks they need to perform to learn the basics. Research indicates that low-income children who participate in the School Breakfast Program show an improvement in standardized test scores and a decrease in tardiness and absenteeism compared to low-income students who do not eat breakfast at school.
		According to the Tufts University Center on Hunger, Poverty and Nutrition Policy, evidence from recent research about child nutrition shows that, in addition to having a detrimental effect on the cognitive development of children, undernutrition results in lost knowledge, brainpower, and productivity for the nation.
		Hunger and malnutrition exacerbate chronic and acute diseases and speed the onset of degenerative diseases among the elderly. This not only leads to an unnecessary decrease in the quality of life for many older people, but also increases the cost of health care in the United States. National data for people ages 65 to 75 show that a majority are not consuming even two-thirds of the nutrients they need to stay healthy.
		Hunger, and insecurity about whether a family will be able to obtain enough food to avoid hunger, also have an emotional impact on children and their parents. Anxiety, negative feelings about self-worth, and hostility towards the outside world can result from chronic hunger and food insecurity.