SOLUTIONS TO FOOD

INSECURITY

Solutions to Food Insecurity

Review Of Literature
David Parsons
University of Texas at El Paso

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Abstract
There is a growing problem through out the world. This problem is food insecurity, as the
years go on the numbers of people struggling to find a reliable source of food continues to grow
and affect more peoples lives. In the United States today it is estimated that 48.1 Million
Americans lived in food insecure households. These numbers include 32.8 million adults and
about 15.3 million children. These numbers are very alarming because the United States is one of
the leading countries in the world and yet there are so many American citizens struggling to find
a reliable and healthy source of food to meet their needs. In the article Food Insecurity and
Weight Status Among U.S. Children and Families: A Review of the Literature. American Journal
Of Preventive Medicine by N.I. Larson it states Food insecurity disproportionately affects
U.S. demographic groups of children and adult family members at the highest risk for obesity
and may lead to weight gain through various pathways.

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Solutions To Food Insecurity

Review of Literature
Introduction
Citizens of the United States of America are facing a real dilemma. This serious dilemma
is that of food insecurity. Many Americans in todays society are living below the line of poverty
and can not find a daily reliable healthy source of food. This is beginning to become one of the
biggest problems in the United States today because of the health effects malnutrition has on a
human body. However there are some programs that exist that are giving these hungry
malnourished citizens a hope of one day having a reliable source of food.
According to one of the leading foodbanks across the United States Feeding America.
They state that Based on annual income, 72 percent of all Feeding America client households
live at or below 100 percent of the federal poverty line. This number is alarming because this is
a statistic based off of the United States as a whole. Feeding Americas main mission or goal is to
end food insecurity and make sure that everyone has a reliable source of food so no one has to
suffer without it.
By stopping food insecurity before it gets any worse; you in turn improve the quality of
life for these people living in poverty by giving them what they need to sustain their healthy
diets. It would also lead to less people going to hospitals for things like, fatigue, malnutrition,
dehydration and things of that nature.
The research done analyzes the following questions:
1.

Is hunger really a huge problem in the United States as a whole?

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2.
3.
4.

How does the United States government define Hunger?

What different programs exist to help these families?
Is Poverty the only cause of Food Insecurity?
The questions being analyzed throughout the entirety of this paper are important

because they all have their own focus and they bring in new ideas to the paper that
otherwise would not have been there. Being food insecure is very hard because the
people struggling are constantly having to find at least one meal a day and some families
can not even do that.
Is Hunger really a huge problem in the United States?
Yes, previously in this paper it is a huge problem in the United States. Food
insecurity affected 82% of households; 49% also had hunger. (M., W., Rodrigo, 2007).
From these statistics alone it shows that it is in fact a huge problem that affects the United
States as a whole. The survey being done with the quote above was one part of the United
States. The main focus of the survey was families that were considered as food insecure
along the United States and Mexico border. This includes people from El Paso, Arizona
and even California. As mentioned before there are that 48.1 Million Americans living in
food insecure households. So in conclusion with this question yes food insecurity is a
huge problem in the United States and as the time goes on it is only getting worse.
How does the United States Government define Hunger
Hunger is defined as a feeling of discomfort or weakness caused by lack of food,
coupled with the desire to eat. At least this is how the United States as a whole defines
this word. Hunger affects the same amount of people because hunger and food insecurity
go hand in hand and are basically the same thing. Food Insecurity is defined as the state
of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.
Food insecurity is what leads to hunger and they both tie in to poverty.
What different programs exist to help these families?

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Food Insecurity has a lot of programs fighting to bring the numbers down and hopefully
one day finally bring it to an end. These programs sole purpose is to end food insecurity
in their own countries and some of them are even trying to reach out to help out allied
countries such as England and also our neighboring country of Mexico. Although there
are many programs fighting against this growing problem. There are also different types
of programs like local, national, and finally international.
Local Programs
To bring a better understanding to people living in El Paso there are local food
banks fighting against food insecurity. One of the biggest local food banks is El Pasoans
Fighting Hunger. They did a report and found There are about 132,000 people in El Paso
who are at risk of not being able to eat every day with 77,000 of them children, according
to a 2013 report by the El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Bank. (Martinez, 2011. These
numbers are just for the city of El Paso, Texas.
These statistics are saying that of the total
population of El Paso there are that many
people who do not have a reliable source of
food on a daily basis. Other programs incude
food shelters and local churches.
National Programs
The biggest program advocating against

Figure 1:
retrieved from Foster2forever.com

food insecurity is SNAP or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Plan. In a survey done of

the 19 respondents 18 of them checked that they have heard about the SNAP program at
least once in their lifetime. SNAP is also very well known as Food Stamps. What this
program does is you apply for it. After someone in the agency reviews your file they tell
the family in need what they qualify for. If the family does qualify they are allotted a

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certain amount of money each month that is for the sole purpose of buying nutritious
foods. This program helps a lot of families throughout the United States every year and is
the leading program fighting against food insecurity. Other programs include WIC, and
of course the Red Cross.

No, it is however the

Is Poverty the only cause of Food Insecurity?

leading cause of food

insecurity. Poverty and

Food insecurity tie in

to each

other and basically go

hand in

hand. In a survey done

other

students also believed

demographics played a

role, lack
allocations
were

of appropriate
T
able 1: Retrieved from:
surveymonkey.com
Retrieved from:
Surveymonkey.com

of funds and others

unsure.

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Conclusion
To conclude, and answer the big question yes, food insecurity is a huge problem that is
only continuing to become worse. Research shows that from year to year the number of citizens
falling below the poverty line continues to grow and in turn the number of people struggling to
find a source of nutritious food grows as well.
On the other hand, as time goes on there are more and more programs starting up. This is
a huge leap to begin stopping food insecurity. The more food banks that exist through out the
entire country the more people that are struggling are able to be helped. This also raises
awareness because the people who are not below the poverty line see the amount of people
entering these food banks and get an idea of just how bad this problem really is.

REFERENCES:
Cook, JT. (2004)., Food Insecurity is associated with adverse health outcomes among human
infants and toddlers., Avaliable at nutrition.org
Davis, O. (2015, March 27), Here's a chance to help fight hunger in El Paso
http://elpasotimes.com/opinion/ci_27796656/heres-chance-help-fight-hunger-el-paso/
El Paso Times, PG. 1.

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El Pasoans Fighting Hunger (2014), Hunger Facts

http://www.elpasoansfightinghunger.org/hunger-facts.html. El Pasoans Fighting Hunger
Pg. 1
Feeding America Org., (2015) About Feeding America.
http://www.feedingamerica.org/about-us/about-feeding-america/. Feeding America, Pg. 1
Hernandez, D. (2015, June 23), National Commission on Hunger seeks input in El Paso.
http://archive.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_28368820/national-commission-hunger-seeksinput-el-paso/ El Paso Times. Pg. 1.
Larson, N. I., & Story, M. T. (2011). Food Insecurity and Weight Status Among U.S. Children
and Families: A Review of the Literature. American Journal Of Preventive Medicine, 40(2),
166-173. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2010.10.028
Lee, J.S. & Fronjillo Jr., A (2002). Nutritional and Health Consequences are associated with food
Insecurity among U.S. Elderly Persons., Avaliable at sjsu.com Pg.1
Lozano, D. I., Crites, S. L., Jr., & Aikman, S. N. (1999). Changes in food attitudes as a function
of hunger. Appetite, 32(2), 207-218. Available at http://works.bepress.com/stephencrite
Martinez, A (2015, October 11), issues. Children go hungry to bring awareness to poverty
http://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/local/community/2015/10/11/children-gohungry-

bring-awareness-poverty-issues. El Paso Times, Pg. 1

Trussell, R. P. (1999). The children's streets: An ethnographic study of street children in Ciudad

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Jurez, Mexico. International Social Work, 42(2), 189-199