Even before COVID-19, many adults over 50 lacked stable food supply

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-05/mm-u-eb050820.php

News Release 11-May-2020
Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan


Even before the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc with the nation's food supply and economy, one in seven adults between the ages of 50 and 80 already had trouble getting enough food because of cost or other issues, a new poll finds.

The percentage who said they'd experienced food insecurity in the past year was even higher among those in their pre-Medicare years, and those who are African-American or Latino. Older adults with lower household incomes and lower levels of education were also more likely to say they had had trouble getting food.

Yet only a third of those with food affordability issues were receiving government food aid for people with low incomes, called SNAP benefits or "food stamps." And less than 2% of those over 60 have received free meals served at senior centers or delivered to their home by programs like Meals on Wheels.

Disruptions to food supply chains, employment and social services from COVID-19 may have worsened disparities, say the experts who designed the poll.

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Julia Wolfson, Ph.D., M.P.P., an assistant professor of health management and policy at the School of Public Health, notes the striking differences the poll reveals between those who said they hadn't experienced food insecurity in the past year, and those who had. "Food-insecure older adults were three times more likely to say they were in fair or poor physical health, and nearly five times as likely to say they were in fair or poor mental health," she says.

Older adults with recent experiences of food insecurity were also twice as likely to say their diet was fair or poor. This could have further implications for their long-term health.

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