Food insecurity prominent among low-income California Latinos

Abstract

Food security is defined as access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. In a study of 212 low-income Latino households in California, 45% were food insecure without hunger; 13% food insecure with moderate hunger; and 3% food insecure with severe hunger. Food insecurity was associated with a decline in household supplies of both nutritious and less nutritious foods. Among preschool children, the number of servings per day of all food groups was significantly correlated with household food supplies. A strong safety net to improve food security in low-income populations must include educational strategies and provision of nutritious foods to support a good diet at home and away from home. P eople sometimes wonder whether hunger really exists in the United States, a land of plenty. Clearly, the phenomenon is different here than in many developing countries. "Food insecurity" is a relatively new concept that emerged in the early 1980s. Much of the research in the past 15 to 20 years has focused on developing a conceptual framework and instruments to measure the extent of the problem in this country. Little is known about the nutritional and health implications of the milder forms of food insecurity that are more common in the United States than severe hunger.Food security is defined as the access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life (Anderson 1990). At a minimum, food security includes: (1) the availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, and (2) the ability to acquire acceptable food in socially acceptable ways. Whenever the food supply or ability to acquire food becomes limited or uncertain, households are considered "food insecure" (Hamilton et al. 1997). "Hunger" refers specifically to the uneasy or painful sensation caused by lack of food. At a mild level of food insecurity without hunger, household members become anxious about their food supplies and begin to make adjustments in the type and amount of food purchased. When household members skip meals or otherwise cut back on the amount of food they consume, food insecurity with hunger occurs. At a moderate level of hunger, adult household members experience hunger. The most severe level of hunger is felt when the household's children are hungry.Since 1995, the federal government has collected data annually on the prevalence of food insecurity and hunger in the United States using an 18-item Food Security Supplement (FSS) as part of the Current Population Survey (see box, page 19). This instrument is designed to detect different levels of food insecurity by the number of affirmative responses to the 18 items. Households are classified according to the number of affirmative responses: food secure (0 to 2); food insecure without hunger (3 to 7); food insecure with moderate hunger (8 to 12); and food insecure with severe hunger (13 to 18).Although poverty and food insecurity are correlated, not all low-income households report being food insecure, partly due to the availability of food ass...

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