More than hunger pains: How food insecurity impacts the body
By Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton, Native
Health News Alliance
TULSA, Okla. – The impact of
regularly going without a nutritious meal
goes beyond a growling stomach and a
short temper.
“The best medicine in the world will
not be effective if I’m treating an under-
nourished child,” said Dr. Sandra Hassink,
past president of the American Academy
of Pediatrics. “For pediatricians, nutri-
tion is health and it’s a core component
of health.
“Good nutrition is chronic disease
prevention.”
According to a jour nal ar ticle
published by the American Academy of
Pediatrics (AAP), both preschool and
school-age children showed that chronic
hunger and food insecurity are significant
predictors of health conditions, even when
taking other factors into consideration.
With chronically hungry children
twice as likely overall to experience health
problems, the AAP formally announced in
October 2015 that it was recommending
its members start screening children for
food insecurity by asking two hunger-
related questions and as needed, provide
referrals to food pantries, local WIC
offices and other community resources.
Nationwide, one in seven families
experience food insecurity at any given
point in a year. The rates are higher in
Indian Country, thus increasing the risks
for the physical effects that come with
poor nutrition.
Hunger’s effects on organs
The influence of not having regular
access to healthy food can be felt at a
young age through its effects on childhood
brain growth and cognitive function.
Nutrient deficits at an early age can
limit cell production, while shortages later
on in childhood can inhibit a brain cell’s
ability to grow and handle complex func-
tions. Chronic hunger can also impact the
brain’s chemical processes and can hamper
communication between brain cells.
For example, iron, a nutrient often
found in red meat and dark leafy veg-
etables, is necessary for developing not
only motor skills in infancy and early
childhood, but also the brain’s ability to
process, learn and recall information.
Found in seafood and beef, zinc is
a key component in the development of
both the central nervous system and the
enzymes needed to allow brain function.
“Children who are well-nourished
early on have healthier brain development,”
Hassink said. “They also tend to have
higher IQs and stronger immune systems.”
That stronger immune system stems
from regular, continued access to many
of the same nutrients that facilitate brain
development.
For example, a deficiency of zinc or
iron can make it harder for the body to
fight infection or produce T-cell lympho-
cytes, a form of white blood cells.
Additionally, one of the measures
commonly taken to avoid hunger pains –
relying on cheap, high calorie foods with
little nutritional benefit – is not necessar-
ily any healthier in the long run.
Virtually unknown in Indian Country
until the 1950s, diabetes is now more than
10
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Siletz News
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Courtesy of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation
twice as common among American Indi-
ans and Alaska Natives as a whole than
the general population.
Once known as adult onset diabetes,
the incidence rate of Type 2 diabetes
among Native American youth is now
estimated at almost 50 diagnoses per
year for every 100,000 teens – more than
double that of any other group.
Multiple studies have shown a correla-
tion between the disease and an increased
intake of corn syrup and other refined car-
bohydrates, a common ingredient in many
low-cost, shelf-stable, processed foods.
“High quality food builds
and supports health,” Has-
sink said. “You can’t build
a healthy body if you don’t
have high quality food.”
Although it is not a direct cause, with
higher levels of fat, sugar and salt in less
expensive sources, there is also often a
correlation between food insecurity and
obesity, another chronic condition that dis-
proportionately strikes American Indians
and Alaska Natives, including one-third of
indigenous children.
a single cup serving of canned commod-
ity beef stew also accounts for almost 40
percent of an adult’s recommended daily
sodium intake.
A single serving of Spam, which
can be bought with SNAP benefits, has
one-third of the daily recommended daily
sodium intake and more than a quarter of
the recommended daily intake of satu-
rated fat.
Made with flour, salt, sugar and water
and fried in either oil or lard, the average
piece of frybread has about 25 grams of
fat in it.
Dr. Jennifer Williams with the Okla-
homa City Indian Clinic said the con-
nection and its effects, while reversible
through minor diet changes, are logical.
“This does seem counter-intuitive, but
it really makes a lot of sense,” she said.
“Weight gain is a pretty simple calcula-
tion. In order to gain weight, we must eat
more energy than we expend.
“Weight gain is not at all related to
nutritional needs.”
According to the Department of
Health and Human Services’ Office of
Minority Health, American Indians and
Alaska Natives are 60 percent more likely
to be obese than their non-Native neigh-
bors. Obesity, in turn, carries additional
health risks, including high blood pres-
sure, high cholesterol and increased rates
of stroke and heart disease.
When calories alone aren’t enough
Courtesy photo by Lenzy
Krehbiel-Burton
Although commodity cheese is high in
saturated fat, its higher quality cousins
are a more nutritionally sound source of
protein, calcium and vitamin A.
For example, three ounces of com-
modity cheese has 330 calories and 90
percent of the recommended daily allow-
ance of saturated fat.
Although it has 80 percent of the
recommended daily intake of Vitamin A,
April 2016
The physical impact of food insecu-
rity and chronic hunger is also felt at the
micronutrient level.
Speaking as part of a White House
panel, Adam Drewenowski, the director
of the University of Washington’s Nutri-
tional Sciences Program, pointed out the
stratification of American diets, with
vitamin and mineral deficiencies show-
ing up among families struggling to put
nutritious food, especially fresh produce,
on the table.
“Foods contain different amounts of
calories per gram,” Drewnowski said. “The
most energy-dense foods are the ones that
are dry – fats, sugars and refined grains.
They have the most calories, but not neces-
sarily the most nutrients.
“As we go from foods
that are energy-dense to
nutrient-rich, the nutrient-
rich foods tend to cost
more. When you think about
calories per dollar, you real-
ize that when you look at
something like sugar, you
can get 3,000 calories per
dollar, but when you look at
a fresh pepper, fresh spin-
ach or other fresh, frozen
or canned produce, you’re
looking at 10-20 calories per
dollar, maybe. If you only
have $2 or $4 per day per
person to spend on food,
those foods are not going to
be on the menu.”
The most common nutrition defi-
ciency internationally, iron deficiency ane-
mia, is when the body does not get enough
iron to allow it to produce hemoglobin.
That in turn, limits the production of red
blood cells, which means less oxygen is
carried throughout the body and leads to
body fatigue faster.
Over time, the heart’s additional
burden of working harder to make up for
insufficient hemoglobin can lead to car-
diovascular problems, including arrhyth-
mias and even heart failure.
According to a 2007 study con-
ducted by researchers at the University of
Kentucky, Native American and Alaska
Native infants are at higher risk for iron
deficiency anemia than white, Asian and
Latino babies, thanks in part to the higher
iron demands during pregnancy that are
not always met.
Who’s at risk?
According to the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, as of 2014, an estimated 14
percent of all households are considered
food insecure or struggling to consistently
access adequate food.
Even higher rates of food insecurity
are present among families with children,
those headed by a single parent, families