Effects Of Food Insecurity

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Is there a correlation between food insecurity, income, and health problems such as obesity? The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines food insecurity as a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. Hunger is a condition where a person, for an extended period, is unable to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs. Hunger refers to personal, physical discomfort, while food insecurity refers to the lack of available financial resources for food. Food insecurity and hunger are closely related but are distinct concepts. According to Feeding America, food insecurity and hunger affected 1 in 8 Americans, which is approximately 42 million with 13 million of them being children. Food insecurity is the most …show more content…

In Dave Weatherspoon’s article “Fresh Vegetable Demand Behaviour in an Urban Food Desert” he discusses how even when they do make healthy foods accessible, the factor of low income plays a big role in what is purchased and consumed. Food deserts typically have “lower quality diets and have higher obesity rates”. He discusses two competing hypothesis’. The first one is that “retailers avoid food deserts because demand side factors such as low income limit demand for healthy foods.” The other hypothesis states that “supply side factors cause prohibitively high costs of operation for grocers – leading to limited access to healthy foods and thus low expressed demand.” Either way if there is a continuance of a lack of nutritional foods available there will be devastating consequences for the diets and health of food desert residents. In this article he analyzes the data in food deserts in Detroit and the residents’ fresh vegetable purchasing behavior. The evidence gathered confirms that the response of the consumers to price and income …show more content…

I got to pick the produce and the manager of the garden would tell me where the produce would be going since I wasn’t able to ride with them to deliver it personally. I felt like I was helping, but since I didn’t get to see it directly affecting them I didn’t completely grasp the concept. However, on some days I actually got to help the kids pick the vegetables they would be getting to take home with them. In the garden I got to see kids bringing fresh produce home for their families. Zachary’s article argued that people from low income families knew that nutritional foods would benefit them and that they had a preference for healthy foods, but didn’t have the means to consistently afford them. But this was a way for kids and people from all walks of life to get the necessary nutrition needed to live a healthy life at no cost. It was eye opening to see the range of people that were affected by food insecurity. In the Senior Kit program I got to help pack the boxes that were going to be given to senior citizens. Some of the volunteers I met were even participants of the Senior Kit program that just wanted to give back. When I would go to the sites to help hand out the boxes they would all be in impoverished areas. When I was driving to the site the closest thing I saw to a grocery store in the area was a liquor store and a 99 cent store. The majority of the people I saw were overweight. It definitely

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