malnutrition
New report finds rate of ‘food hardship’ has risen since 2016
A new report from the Food Research and Action Center found that the food hardship rate for households across the country has increased from 15.1 percent in 2016 to 15.7 percent in 2017. The rate increase was higher for households with children, from 17.5 percent to 18.4 percent. The study comes as wages remain stagnant, despite falling unemployment.
USDA predicts decline in global food insecurity in annual report
The Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service in June released its annual International Food Security Assessment (IFSA), an outlook for global food security for the coming decade. The report estimated that global food security would improve over the coming 10 years, with a decline in the number of food-insecure people from 782 million in 2018 to 446 million in 2028.
World Food Prize awarded to pair for work on maternal and child nutrition
Two nutrition advocates whose focus on maternal and child nutrition helped reduce the number of stunted children in the world by 10 million in five years are the winners of the World Food Prize for 2018, the award’s sponsor announced on Monday.
Studies: Corn at risk from climate change
Two newly published studies highlight the risk that climate change could lead to the failure of corn crops around the world and reduce the nutritional content of vegetables, reports InsideClimate News. While looking at different subjects, the studies "reiterate the prospects of food shocks and malnutrition with unchecked global warming."
Perdue: Too many states abandoned ‘goal of self-sufficiency’ for SNAP
The Trump administration will hold states accountable "for transitioning able-bodied [SNAP] recipients permanently into the workforce," said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue in an essay that underlined the White House call for new or tougher work requirements in federal welfare programs. "Too many states have abandoned this goal of self-sufficiency."
GOP work rules would end or reduce SNAP for 1 million households
The work requirements for SNAP recipients proposed by House Republicans "would cause more than a million low-income households with about 2 million people — particularly low-income working families with children —- to lose their benefits altogether or have them reduced," said Robert Greenstein, the head of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "We really believe they need to go back to the drawing board," saying the package is too poorly designed to be salvaged by amendment.
Biofortified corn might mean better nutrition in Colombia
The first corn variety that yields kernels rich in zinc, now available to farmers in Colombia, will combat malnutrition in the South American nation, says a coalition of researchers.
Startup formerly known as Hampton Creek takes aim at malnutrition in Africa
The food startup that began as Hampton Creek is now known as JUST, and its newest product is a nutrient-fortified cassava porridge named Power Gari that it says is the solution to malnutrition in western Africa, reports the Washington Post. "JUST believes that its product will increase Africans' intake of critical vitamins and minerals by including them in a product that tastes good and is sold at retail in slick branded bags, unlike the fortified foods currently offered by development organizations."
‘Golden rice’ advances in Philippines, hits pothole in India
Philippines officials are considering a request for a biosafety permit for so-called golden rice, which would allow use of the vitamin A-enriched GMO rice as food or feed and for processing, says the Cornell Alliance for Science. The biosafety permit would allow researchers to conduct human nutrition studies, the alliance said during the summer, and an application to allow cultivation of the rice in the Philippines "will be submitted in the future."
D.C.’s major food bank just cut junk food by 84 percent in a year
A year ago, Washington D.C.’s Capital Area Food Bank — one of the largest food banks in the country — decided to turn away junk food, joining a growing trend of food banks who are trying to offer healthier options to low-income Americans. From soda to chips, the CAFB has reduced the junk food it supplies to its 444 nonprofit partners, including soup kitchens and food pantries, by 84 percent.
SNAP benefits inadequate for healthy diet
A comparison of food stamp benefits and federal dietary guidelines finds that the premiere U.S. antihunger program "only covers 43-60 percent of what it costs to consume ... a healthy diet," says North Carolina State University. "The study highlights the challenges lower-income households face in trying to eat a healthy diet."
Rural poor more likely to use food stamps than urban counterparts
SNAP Maps, a new interactive tool from the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC), shows that, over a five-year period, "an average of 16% of rural and small-town households participated in SNAP, compared to 13% of households in metro areas," says Feedstuffs.
Anti-hunger groups to raise nutritional content of food-pantry items
Last week, Feeding America, the nation's largest hunger-relief organization, announced a plan to boost the nutritional content of food distributed at food pantries, including more fresh produce, whole grains, and lean proteins, reports The Washington Post.
Food insecurity is highest in rural and southern counties
A report from the antihunger group Feeding America says that food insecurity rates are highest in rural counties and in the South, says the news site CityLab. For the report, Feeding America combined data from USDA, the Census Bureau and the Labor Department "to stitch together a portrait of food insecurity at the state and county levels," says CityLab, with Jefferson County along the Mississippi River in southwestern Mississippi having the highest rate in the nation, 38 percent.
In second year of tax, soda sales continue to fall in Mexico
Consumption of sugary beverages is down for the second year in a row in Mexico, suggesting "that the results of such a tax may be far more long-lasting," says the New York Times. It says a study published on the Internet by Health Affairs found a 5.5 percent decline in sales of sugary drinks in 2014, the first year of the tax, and sales in 2015 were 9.7 percent lower than in 2013, the year before the tax took effect.
On the cusp of GMO biofortified rice to combat anemia
Researchers are developing a new strain of genetically modified rice that contains much higher levels of iron and zinc, says the University of Melbourne. "This has the potential to reduce chronic malnutrition disorders that can be caused by an over-reliance on rice in the human diet," says the university.
Obama bolsters his foreign-aid legacy with Global Food Security Act
President Obama signed the bipartisan Global Food Security Act of 2016 yesterday, steering $7 billion toward agricultural development and hunger-relief efforts around the world, and ensuring that both public and private operations would continue to work together to fund these efforts in Africa and other food-insecure regions.
University of California pledges millions to stop malnutrition on campus
“Four in 10 University of California students do not have a consistent source of high-quality, nutritious food,” says the Los Angeles Times, citing a recent survey of the state’s public university system. Of the 9,000 student respondents, 19 percent said they occasionally went hungry, while another 23 percent said they had enough money to eat, but didn’t always have access to high-quality, nutrient-dense foods.