Fifty million Americans, including 15 million children, live in food-insecure households, meaning that from time to time they lack the resources to buy enough food. The “absence of food security in the U.S. carries enormous healthcare costs, more than $160 billion in 2014,” says In These Times, pointing to the 2016 Hunger Report from Bread for the World Institute. Researchers led by John Cook of the Boston University medical school “estimated these health care costs by looking at the costs of treating diseases and health conditions associated with household food insecurity plus earnings lost when people took time off work because of these illnesses or to care for family members with illnesses related to food insecurity,” writes Elizabeth Grossman.
Poor nutrition increases the risk of health problems,” says In These Times. “These risks are particularly great for children but poor and inadequate nutrition also increases risk for adult health problems, including obesity and chronic diseases, among them diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease … Children whose households lack adequate food are twice as likely to be in poor health and nearly one-and-a-half times more likely to have asthma”
The American Academy of Pediatricians recommended on Oct 23 that doctors should screen all children for food insecurity. Pediatricians also should “become familiar with and refer families to needed community resources, and advocate for federal and local policies that support access to adequate, nutritious food,” said the policy statement.