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Essay on various threats to food security
Malnutrition and its effects on the human body
Essay on various threats to food security
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Chapter 12 Paper
Food is essential for every living thing because through food is where our bodies get their vitamins and nutrients. Many of us are very fortunate to eat every day because nearly one in seven people worldwide is chronically undernourished. Our bodies have an internal drive to find and eat food, which is known as hunger. Hunger is the physiological state that occurs when not sufficient food is eaten to meet energy needs and causes discomfort, weakness, or pain. There is also a problem know as food insecurity, which is a condition of anxiety regarding running out of either food or money to buy more food. Food insecurity is when there is not enough food for a healthy life for all members in a household. In 2014, the food insecurity rate in the United
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States was 15.4%.
In addition, the primary cause for malnutrition around the world is poverty. Malnutrition results from longstanding dietary practices that do not coincide with nutritional needs. Now, when the population is large and food supplies are low,
undernutrition is common. Undernutrition is caused by not having enough food or not eating enough food containing substances necessary for growth and health. Undernutrition can be the cause of many nutritional diseases such as goiter and xerophtalmia. Undernutrition is the most common form of malnutrition among the poor worldwide. In 2008, SNAP was introduced and the new program's purpose and goal was to focus on nutrition and putting healthy food within reach for low-income households. SNAP has been a huge help for low-income people and families to buy food they need for good health. School breakfast and lunch programs have enable low-income students to receive meals for free or at a reduced cost if they qualify certain income guidelines. The Older Americans Act authorizes the elderly nutrition services program to provide funds and home-delivered meals for all citizens that are aged 60 or older. The program not only addresses food insecurity, but promotes socialization and health and well-being of older persons. In 1972, the WIC program was introduced to help women, infants and children. The program helps by providing low-income families with food vouchers and nutrition education. Due to the good infrastructure the country has, these government-funded food assistance have helped alleviate problems of undernutrition in the United States. On the other hand, undernutrition in developing countries is also caused by poverty the difference though is that their countries have a very poor infrastructure. War involves a lot of military spending and civil disruptions, which contributes to major undernutrition. Food and population ratio affects developing countries as well because it causes food shortages. Agriculture and the depletion of natural resources is another conflict that affects developing countries. Many people in these developing countries also suffer from inadequate shelter and sanitation. Everyone needs water to survive and can't live healthy without sanitation or shelter. In addition, nutrition security has been severely impacted by HIV infection in developing countries. HIV/AIDS impacts many people in these countries because it doesn’t allow to absorb nutrients properly, so it then decreases the capacity to work. In conclusion, undernutrition exists worldwide, but it depends on the government's infrastructure to take care of the problem and so far developing countries need to take care of that first. There are many programs that supply food for people in the United States such as SNAP, TEFAP, WIC, National School Lunch Program and many more. The SNAP is for low-income families, who are given debit cards to purchase food and depending the size of household and income is the amount they receive. The TEFAP is the emergency food assistance program it is for low-income families as well, and it provides nutrition assistance through distribution of USDA food commodities. The WIC program helps out low-income pregnant women, infants, and children by giving them coupons to purchase milk, cheese, fruit juice, cereal, infant formula and more at grocery stores. The national school lunch program is for low-income children of school age that offers them free or reduced-priced lunch. In my opinion, all the programs that are offered by the government are very important because they help citizens of all ages. I think the programs that are most helpful are the SNAP and WIC program. The SNAP program is very helpful because the government helps those families who don't have sufficient income to feed themselves, and it is crucial for children to eat properly to be healthy. Now, the WIC program is helpful because it educate women about nutrition and provide mothers with essential food components to feed their infants and children. I believe to start making a change you should start from where you come, so that way you help the people in your society first then you worry about the rest. I would start by helping my community to do fundraisers, and get the community to volunteer and donate food cans or money for the poor. I would go and drop boxes of food donations at schools, and then take them to the food bank. I would also organize events for the community in a local park to let them know about undernutrition problem in our society, and to get them involved to help eradicate the problem.
There are several programs in the Muncie area that assist those who are dealing with food insecurity. Some of these programs are: Indiana school breakfast and lunch program, Second Harvest Food bank and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program. These three programs help those who suffer from food insecurity but do so in different ways.
How often does one think about when his/her next meal will be? If you are the average American, the answer will most likely be “in a couple of hours”; however, there is a good chance that you might also be one of the fifty million Americans that would most likely answer “I don’t know… whenever I can afford it, I guess.” Roughly every one in six Americans would have some sort of response like the one presented because that is how many are considered food insecure. This is obviously one of the most important social problems afflicting America in modern times, but what can be done about it? A Place at the Table displays three scenarios: Barbie, a struggling mother of two; Rosie, a fifth grader living meal
Food is something that all people have always and will always need to consume in order
The United States Department of Agriculture defines food unsecurity as the availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food, or the ability to acquire such food, is limited or uncertain for a household. Food insecurity also does not always mean that the household has nothing to eat. More simply stated it is the struggle to provide nutritional food for ones family and/or self. The people that suffer from food insecurity are not all living below the poverty line. In 2012 49.0 million people were considered food insecure in the United States of those 46.5 million were in poverty (Hunger & Poverty Statistics, 2012). For some individual’s food insecurity is only a temporary situation for others it maybe for extended period. Food insecurity due temporary situation such as unemployment, divorce, major medical or illness can be become more long term. The vast majority of these are families with children.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that nearly 870 million people of the 7.1 billion people in the world, were suffering from chronic undernourishment in the years 2010-2012. Ellen Gustafson has spoken in ted talks on the issue of Obesity plus Hunger equals one global food issue. One the main issues Gustafson speaks of is world hunger and how to end it. She also speaks briefly on obesity and how in comes into play with world hunger. Even though some people would argue that there just is not enough food in the world, world hunger and obesity can easily be prevented and eliminated with proper knowledge and programs.
== = Malnutrition is a dietary condition caused by a deficiency or excess of one or more essential nutrients in the diet. Malnutrition is characterised by a wide array of health problems, including extreme weight loss, stunted growth, weakened resistance to infection, and impairment of intellect. Severe cases of malnutrition can lead to death.
Hunger is a result of poverty, as well as poverty being a result of hunger. Hunger causes the body’s radius to decrease in addition to a person’s level of energy and mental functions. An adult’s hunger struggle could seriously affect their labor abilities and could eventually lead to unemployment. Unemployment and low incomes are the all time leading causes of childhood hunger. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Why should there be hunger and privation in any land, in any city, at any table when man has the resources and the scientific know-how to provide all mankind with the basic necessities of life?” (Child Hunger Fact Sheet).
In 2013 17.5 million households were food insecure, or had trouble providing the food needed because of a lack economic of resources. Of these 17.5 million households that were food insecure, 6.8 million household have very low food security, previously called food insecurity with hunger (Coleman-Jensen, Gregory, & Singh, 2013). Food insecurity has been shown to have a negative effect on a variety of health outcomes. Food insecurity is associated with deficiencies of nutrient rich food, poorer self-reported health, mental health issues, increased rate of chronic disease, cognitive issues for children, and higher rates of obesity (Cook, et al., 2004; Lee & Frongillo, 2001; Martin & Lippert, 2012; Seligman Laraia, & Kushel, 2010; Siefert, Heflin,
Many people here in America are hardworking and resourceful, but an insecure economy can have a long-lasting effect on a diverse group of people. One of the greatest manifestations of this is the inability to consistently afford a healthy diet. In a report by done by researchers in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, ‘in 2011, 14.9 percent or 17.9 million people in America were food insecure (Coleman-Jensen, Nordic, Andrews, & Carlson, 2012).’ Although many different organizations such as the “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” or the SNAP food stamp program has set out to eradicate hunger, by giving assistance to low income participants, to help them afford food, it does still exist in many different people’s lives, at one point or another. While many other underdeveloped countries have harder times with hunger, many of them, due to socioeconomic difficulties, hunger still causes many problems for different people in America.
Every morning when I wake up the first thought in my mind is usually: FOOD! I often lie in bed for a few extra minutes, planning out what I am going to eat for breakfast. Seldom as I go through this routine do I stop to think about those who are less fortunate than me. I often take for granted that everyone wakes up and eats breakfast. But this is far from true, not everyone shares the luxuries that we have in the United States. Some people wake up and wonder if they will eat at all that day, let alone eat breakfast. Why? Because food, like many other things, is unequally distributed throughout the world.
Food insecurity defined, is ‘the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food’ (Oxforddictionaries.com, 2014). This in turn leads to hunger, which can have three possible meanings; 1) ‘the uneasy or painful sensation caused by want of food; craving appetite, also the exhausted condition caused by want of food’, 2) ‘the want or scarcity of food in a country’, and 3) ‘a strong desire or craving’ (Worldhunger.org, 2014). Food insecurity also leads to malnutrition, with 870 million people in the world or one in eight, suffering from chronic undernourishment (Fao.org, 2014). From this alarmingly high figure, 852 million of these people live in developing countries, making it evident that majority of strategies used to solve this problem should be directed at them (Fao.org, 2014). The world produces enough food to feed everyone, with an estimated amount of 2,720 Kcal per person a day (Worldhunger.org, 2014). The only problem is distri...
According to Gopaldas(2006) there are two types of hunger. The first of them might be explained as general necessity in food consumption. The another name is self-reported hunger, whereby people estimate their craving to consume food. While the second one happens when human body requires more nutrition which they need to take. Biostatis (Krishnaraj, 2006) is a state in which people always consume less than their needed, as a result their bodies adapt to eating less food.
There are those that believe our planet has reached its maximum capacity to sustain humanity and we need to reduce our population to rectify it. It is also said that our planet is well capable of providing both the nutrition and caloric needs for humanity, both now and into the future as well. Regardless of where one’s opinion of the facts fall between these two arguments, global food security is not where it should be. Uneven development could be argued to be a cause of this. But it is not the only issue affecting the planet.
“Every hour of every day, 300 children die of malnutrition.” (more children going hunry) Even though there are many, many programs out there, still children are suffering immensely because of mallnutrition.“The report says 15 million more children are suffering from chronic malnutrition in Africa compared to 1990.” (African news service). That 's just in Africa imagine the numbers of children suffering around the world. “Malnutrition is attributed to a third of all child deaths worldwide, or 2.6 million per year.” (African news service). 2.6 million deaths per year and that 's just from mallnutrition.“Half of the world 's malnourished children live in five countries - Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, India and Bangladesh - where 50 per cent of all families have been forced to cut back on food.”(African news service).For you to grasp the whole impact of malnutrition you need the facts.”with over one billion children living in poverty, 400 million lacking clean drinking water, and 165 million under the age of 5 experiencing stunted growth because of malnutrition.” (Justin Turner) Along with malnutrition there is the fact of the effects on the child 's mental status. “Due to lack in resources, poor social and health related behaviors are common.”(children in poverty) these kids that go through this tend to have health concerns
Hunger and poverty have been a major problem in the world, which has being leading most people to death than cancer, Ebola, and malaria do. More than thousands of people die from hunger and poverty, and most of the people who suffer most are children below the age of ten. Hunger and poverty have contributed to the world food crisis that has an impact on the economy, the environment, and political issues. People living with hunger and poverty are more than those living a successful life in both developed and developing the world. Hunger makes victims live underweight, causing numerous of sickness to their health. Lack of