Prioritizing Nutrition Security in the US

• Published in: JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association Vol. 325; no. 16; pp. 1605 - 1606
• Main Authors: Mozaffarian, Dariush, Fleischhacker, Sheila, Andrés, José R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Medical Association 27-04-2021
• Subjects: Cancer; Cardiovascular diseases; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetes mellitus (non-insulin dependent); Family size; Food; Food Assistance; Food Insecurity; Food Security; Health Policy; Heart diseases; Households; Humans; Hypertension; Income; Minority & ethnic groups; Morbidity; Nutrition; Nutritional Requirements; Obesity; Security; Socioeconomics; United States; United States; United States > US
• ISSN: 0098-7484; 1538-3598
• DOI: 10.1001/jama.2021.1915

The prevalence of nutrition-sensitive conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes has increased substantially in the US during the past 30 years. These conditions, combined with other diet-related ones such as cardiovascular diseases and certain cancers, are associated with the majority of morbidity, mortality, and health care spending nationally. Simultaneously, income inequality has increased, with accompanying self-reported food insecurity disproportionately affecting individuals with lower incomes. Food insecurity has been denned as the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food, and in 2019 was estimated to affect 10.5% of US households. Food insecurity and poor nutrition are closely linked: individuals who report being most food insecure also have higher risks of developing obesity, diabetes, hypertension, coronary disease, stroke, cancer, and associated conditions, even after adjusting for other risks such as age, sex, employment, marital status, race/ethnicity, smoking, insurance status, family size, education, and income.