Food Insecurity in Aging Society

Food insecurity is the “state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food,” according to the Oxford Dictionary. It is a widespread problem on college campuses across the nation. While food insecurity only impacts 14% of households, 48% of college students claim to be food insecure. This problem disproportionately impacts first generation college students, students of color, and students who need financial aid, as noted by the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness.

After reading the extensive “The New Face of Hunger” (Tracie McMillan), my eyes became more open to the overall issue of hunger, faced by many people today. In a few words, I was absolutely shocked by the true meaning and examples provided of what exactly food insecurity is. Honestly speaking, when I hear the word “hunger” I think of a human who has no food, living on the streets. “The New Face of hunger” brought to my attention that food insecurity is much more than simply having no food. In fact, “In 2006 the U.S. government replaced “hunger” with the term “food insecure” to describe any household where, sometime during the previous year, people didn’t have enough food to eat” (The New Face of Hunger). Not only was I able to see the harsh

Food insecurity is when a person does not have access to an abundance of food, and when the little food they do have, is not nutritious (Ruane). One of the big steps in lowering the food insecurity rate, is making the public more aware of the issue. If we started showing the world more facts about this issue, more would be done to lower the problem. If we stated the fact that one of every six people suffer from food insecurity in the United States alone (Coleman), maybe it would spark people to become more active and do more to help. The one of every six people fact is just in the United States. This issue strikes at home, not just in underdeveloped countries in Africa like we think. It is startling to know that food insecurity occurs in every community across the United States

Food insecurity is an issue seeing growth in Ontario which has an impact on thousands of people annually. It is defined as when an individual does not have adequate or sufficient access to healthy, nutritious food which prevents him or her from maintaining a healthy and active life.Some causes of food insecurity includes low income or unemployment, location, gender, race, physical or mental illness or disabilities and more. From the research I have done, nearly 10 percent of all Ontarians have suffered from food insecurity at least one in his or her life. As we learnt in class,  few programs effective with the creation of a solution for the problem such as Northern Food Canada. Though benefits of Northern Food Canada exist, there were flaws

The United States is experiencing social issues related to food insecurity and hunger. Current research states that older adults are especially vulnerable to food insecurity. In a study published in the Journal of Urban Health states, “Among the 14.6% of American households experiencing food insecurity, approximately 2 million are occupied by older adults” (Chung, Gallo, Giunta, Canavan, Parikh, & Fahs, 2011, p. 1). Since the year 2011 the Athens Community Council on Aging reports, “Almost 9 million older adults in the United States are at risk for hunger, and Georgia is 8th in state rankings for older adult risk of hunger” (2014, p. 1). Fortunately, in North America, hunger seldom reaches

Food insecurity is a state of being when there is no reliable access to sufficient amount of affordable and nutritious food. In this state food is very scare and obtaining it is impossible. Many Americans have no idea where there next meal will come from. The burden is

As of 2017, millions of families in the United States live in poverty. As a result, this forces parents in between a rock and a hard place. This position of food insecurity, when someone is in a state where they are not able to access good quality food, leaves families with some cheap, unhealthy choices for food. Yet still, there are many other reasons as to why the United States is pressed with the major issue of food insecurity. One reason stems from the quality of American school lunches compared to those in other countries. Another is the link between hunger and obesity and the long-term health consequences of relying on processed foods for sustenance.

‘’Food insecurity nationally is about 85 percent of all US homes have access at all times’’(Household food insecurity). Which means about 15 percent has no food or a very low food insecurity level. “In 2014 5.4 million seniors were food insecure”(Food insecurity and very low food security). Elderly people should not have to be hungry if they can not work for disability reasons or retirement. So for elderly people there is more than likely

Food insecurity is a term that indicates the limited capability to afford nutritionally adequate and safe food or the limited ability to obtain adequate foods in socially acceptable ways (1-2). In 2015, 13% of all U.S. households, which represents 42.2 million people (including 29.1 million adults and 13.1 million children), were food insecure (3) and food insecurity was found to be present in every county in the United States, ranging from a low of 4% in Loudoun County, VA to a high of 38% in Jefferson County, MS (4).

Food insecurity affects more than 48 million Americans every year (McMillan). Those who reside in food insecure homes can generally not afford healthy foods, therefore increasing the incidence of obesity and other resultant chronic disorders. According to The American Journal of Public Health, “Food insecurity has been shown to diminish dietary quality and affect nutritional intake and has been associated with chronic morbidity (e.g., type 2 diabetes, hypertension) and weight gain” (Nguyen, Shuval, Bertmann, & Yaroch, 2015, p. 1453). Those who live without adequate access to nutritional food, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, have higher rates of obesity not because of the amount of food they eat, but the poor nutritional value of affordable meals.

When asked the question "who in the United states is food-insecure?" one must first answer the question of what it means to have food security in America. Food security is defined by Edelstein (2010) as "assured access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life, as well as access to enough food that is safe, nutritious, and acquired in a socially acceptable way." (pg. 71). Hunger would then be considered the absence of food. According to statistics by the Feeding America Organization, in 2014 they reported that 48.1 million Americans where considered to be food-insecure, with 32.8 of them being adults while 15.3 were children (2014). I believe that is also important to characterize where exactly Americans are more likely to be in this category. These same statistics also showed that there was a correlation of region when it came to Americans being more food-insecure. This region was shown to be the southern states of the US, as states like Texas, Kentucky and Louisiana all were in the top

The United States has a population of 323,100,000 people as of 2016, however 42,238,000 people are at risk of going hungry giving a 13.4% rate. The average meal cost $2.94 in the US with $22,267,592,013 as the annual food budget shortfall. (“Map the Meal Gap”) On average, US households experience the risk of going hungry seven months out of the year. (“How We Got the Map Data”) Feeding America found that food insecurity varies by geographic regions and status. It found that counties in the South have the highest rate at 16.1%, while the West has 13.7%, Midwest is 12.1% and Northeast regions at 11.8% of food insecurity. (“Food Insecurity by Region”)

Food insecurity is defined as when an individual has inconsistent and inadequate access to a sufficient amount of nutritious food preventing him or her from maintaining a healthy lifestyle. It is typically associated with limited financial  It is sometimes classified as a public health concern and is currently a growing issue as the number of individuals suffering from food insecurity is increasing according to Statistics Canada.   Food insecurity has its greatest impact on the individual itself and an impact on the Government of Ontario and mayors of the cities within Ontario.  It is an important issue as it can more issues to branch out from it  such as famine (long term hunger), increased health care costs and more. Thus, food insecurity has many impacts on the person itself and it can cause more issues to build upon this one issue.

Hunger among the poor is a global issue and has been an issue for years. Downsizing of companies, salary cuts, unemployment and the rising cost for housing has diminished funds for lower income and middle class families to provide nutritional meals for their families. Many homes in America

Food security is historically defined as the overall regional, national as well as global food supply and shortfalls in supply as associated to requirements (Foster, 1992). The same author contended that, even though, the increased observation of differences in the sufficiency of food intake by certain groups despite overall adequacy of supply, the term has been applied recently at a local, household, or individual level and it has been widened beyond notions of food supply to include elements of access (Sen, 1981), vulnerability (Watts and Bohle, 1993), and sustainability (Chambers, 1989). Different organizations, scholars and institutions define food security differently. However, basic concept remains the same.