Poverty Drains Nutrition From Family Diet
By Alan Mozes
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Feb. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Members of poor households in which it is consistently hard to afford enough high-quality food end up eating nutritionally risky diets, Canadian researchers reveal.
The new study is the first to show that food insecurity directly translates into poor nutrition. It also suggests that in such homes, adults and teens, rather than very young children, are the most likely to be subsisting on diets low in vitamins, minerals, fruits, vegetables, grains and meat.
"Over the long term, [food insecurity] could be expected to precipitate and complicate diet-related chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease," cautioned study co-author, Sharon Kirkpatrick, a doctoral candidate in the department of nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto.
Kirkpatrick and study co-author Valerie Tarasuk published the findings in the March issue of The Journal of Nutrition.
According to a 2002 U.S. Department of Agriculture report, just over 11 percent of American households are food-insecure.
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