Hunger is associated with poor health among low-income children in the United States, conclude nutritionists from Cornell University and the University of Michigan in the first national study to determine if the level of food deprivation that occurs in the U.S. is severe enough to affect children's health. Preschool-aged children who do not get enough food to eat also have more frequent colds. The study underscores the urgency for achieving the objective set out in the federal government's Healthy People 2010 report that more families be food secure within the decade. The study showed that hunger has a strong effect on children's health over and above living in poverty and associated risks such as not having health insurance or a regular source of medical care. Low income also is associated with poorer health, the study indicated.
Food security is a critical component of child health policy.
Recent welfare reform policies that move families to work might not enable low-income families to get enough food if the jobs they find don't pay enough. They reported that more than one-half of the 10 million Americans who sometimes or often don't get enough food to eat are from families where at least one person has a job. The research was supported, in part, by a training grant from the National Institutes of Health. Some might not be part of the Cornell University community, and Cornell has no control over their content or availability.