More Americans in their golden years are going hungry

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/uoic-ma042314.php

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 23-Apr-2014

Contact: Debra Levey Larson
University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences

More Americans in their golden years are going hungry

URBANA, Ill. - In a country as wealthy as the United States, it may come as a surprise that one in 12 seniors do not have access to adequate food due to lack of money or other financial resources. They are food insecure.

Recent research at the University of Illinois using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) revealed that the seniors who are dealing with hunger are also facing negative health and nutrition consequences.

"In 2011, 8.35 percent of Americans over age 60 faced the threat of hunger—that translates to 4.8 million people," said Craig Gundersen, University of Illinois soybean industry endowed professor in agricultural strategy in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics and executive director of the National Soybean Research Laboratory who led the data analysis on the study.

Hand-in-hand with hunger goes a lower intake of calories, vitamins, and other nutrients, which puts them at risk for a wide variety of ailments.

"Seniors who are food insecure reported higher incidence of diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart attack, gum disease, and a host of other health problems than adults their age who are food secure," Gundersen said. "In addition, food-insecure seniors have worse general health outcomes, more daily activity limitations, and are more likely to suffer from depression.

-----