By Jennifer Ju
Facing Ourselves
Jennifer Ju
A golden slant of light glitters through branches freshly discharged of their fiery foliage. The air has turned brisk, carrying with it the faint fragrance of fallen apples. Autumn is here: the harvest season, a time for us to gather and enjoy the fruits of our labor. It is perhaps both apropos and ironic that September is Hunger Action Month, highlighting how so many have so little during a season in which one would hope abundance abounds.
First established in 2008 by Feeding America, a national network of food banks, Hunger Action Month aims to raise awareness about as well as ameliorate chronic food insecurity and hunger in the US.
But how aware are we of food insecurity in our country, and how effective have we been in mitigating the factors which contribute to it?
First, let us understand what food insecurity means. Frequent food insecurity scenarios include limited and/or uncertain access to sufficient amounts of food, resulting in skipped meals (sometimes for an entire day) in order to ration food, meals with poor nutritional value and not having enough to eat at each meal, often accompanied by hunger.
Many do not realize how prevalent food insecurity is in America, the “land of plenty.” According to the RTS Food Waste guide, in 2020 40 percent of the US food supply was wasted, and 80 billion pounds of food was thrown away yearly.
However, millions of households report food insecurity. Surveys also show roughly 10 percent of households with children from birth to 17 years old report food insecurity. Race is one of the factors identified as contributing to disparities in food insecurity, with recent surveys showing the percentage of Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black children living in food-insecure households to be at least double that of non-Hispanic White children.
Food insecurity has many negative ramifications on health, including a higher risk of developmental problems in children. According to Linda Wilbrecht, a UC Berkeley professor of psychology, “We show that irregular access to food in the late juvenile and early adolescent period affects learning, decision-making and dopamine neurons in adulthood. I think that we have to understand that even transient food insecurity matters, the brain doesn’t just catch up later. Food insecurity can have long-term impacts on how someone’s brain functions.”
Children facing food insecurity are also at increased risk of mental health issues. Despite the importance of adequate nutrition for growing minds and bodies, access to food programs for children are disrupted during the weekends and other breaks from school, mimicking a feast and famine cycle. In adults, food insecurity leads to increased rates of chronic disease.
Although access to food may be inadequate, both children and adults who struggle with food insecurity are at higher risk of obesity due to the frequently poor nutritional content of the foods they can afford to buy. Obesity in and of itself elevates one’s risk of numerous health conditions, including, but not limited to, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, joint disease and cancers. The impact of food insecurity as a negative social determinant of health should not be underestimated.
In order to address food insecurity and hunger, food assistance programs, such as the Women, Infants and Children program, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the National School Lunch Program, as well as measures mitigating financial hardship, such as the child tax credit, have been implemented. More work is needed, however. The Centers for Disease Control has announced it will work with the White House in its initiative to end hunger and food insecurity. On Sept. 28, for the first time in over 50 years, the White House will host a conference with public and private sectors to coordinate strategies to address hunger, nutrition and health, as well as the systemic disparities seen in these areas.
We too can do our part to address hunger and food insecurity. As Mother Teresa said, “If you can’t feed 100 people, just feed one.”
We can volunteer with and donate to food banks and organizations that work with these at-risk members of our community. We can advocate for food assistance programs and work to destigmatize participation in them. We can act with kindness, realizing how little we actually know of the silent suffering of our neighbors. Coupled with compassion, our actions can feed both body and spirit, and reap the benefits of peace and prosperity, a precious harvest for all.
Jennifer Ju, MD is a physician who is a graduate of the Brown University family medicine residency program. She is also an actor and writer who has performed in various theatres across the state and whose plays have been produced locally. Ju has also presented numerous online and in-person workshops on mindfulness, health and wellness for parents and children, as well as for pre-K-12 educators in New Haven and Fairfield counties.