Introduction to senior hunger special issue

Abstract

Over 5 million persons aged 60 and older are food insecure in the United States. Research on food insecurity among seniors, however, has been sparse. In response, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service (USDA, FNS) funded a series of studies in this research area. In this introduction, we describe trends and consequences of food insecurity among seniors followed by an overview of the nine funded projects. These papers constitute a second round of papers funded by USDA in this research area –the first round was published in volume 44, issue 2 of this journal.

Association of Food Insecurity With Allostatic Load Among Older Adults in the US

“…In 2018, 7.3 million older individuals in the US were food insecure, representing 10% of adults aged 60 years or older in the US. 2 About one-third of individuals with food insecurity exhibited multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake, 2 which is associated with worse health and higher rates of health care use. [3][4][5][6] The prevalence of food insecurity has been more pronounced for persons in racial and ethnic minority groups, older individuals with disabilities, low-income households, and those infected with COVID-19 2,[7][8][9] -the population subgroups that carry relatively higher health risks.…”

“…Food insecurity, defined as limited access to nutritionally adequate and safe foods owing to financial constraints, poses a substantial challenge to the maintenance of good health. In 2018, 7.3 million older individuals in the US were food insecure, representing 10% of adults aged 60 years or older in the US . About one-third of individuals with food insecurity exhibited multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake, which is associated with worse health and higher rates of health care use .…”

Malnutrition and Food Insecurity in Older Adults

“…Factors contributing to food insecurity include poverty, having one or more chronic conditions, being disabled, living alone, living with grandchildren, being a racial or ethnic minority in a community, living in a food desert, having challenges with transportation or mobility, and social isolation [4]. Older adults in North Carolina primarily live in communities (93.5%), 9.2% of North Carolina elders live below the poverty line, and 43% live in single-person households [1].…”

“…Older adults who are food insecure are more likely to see declines in functional health and mental health and increased complexity in chronic condition management. Food-insecure older adults are more likely to have an increase in negative health outcomes, be frequent utilizers of health care, and have more high-cost health care needs [4].…”

Improving Food Security through Financial Inclusion

“…Food security is a key to achieving healthy, intelligent, active, and productive human resources (Badan Ketahanan Pangan, 2019). Meanwhile, according to several previous studies, the inability to maintain food security is strongly related to health deterioration both physically (Ziliak & Gundersen, 2017) and mentally (Nagata et al, 2019), obesity increase (Brewer et al, 2010), chronic conditions increase such as cardiovascular disease (Seligman, Laraia, & Kushel, 2010) and diabetes (Billimek & Sorkin, 2012), and individual quality of life (Gyasi et al, 2019).…”