Effects of Hunger



http://feedingamerica.org/SiteFiles/child-economy-study.pdf

A new report—Child Food Insecurity: The Economic Impact on Our Nation—focuses on the impact of food insecurity and hunger on child health, growth, and development, and also details the economic effect of child hunger in America. The results may surprise you.
The report’s author, John Cook, Ph.D., of the Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine, a nationally-recognized expert on child hunger, says that there are lifelong consequences of child food insecurity: “The impact of child hunger is more far reaching than one might anticipate. Child food insecurity creates billions of dollars in costs to our society. Child hunger affects a child’s health, education, and job readiness.”

The study explains the long term impact child hunger can have on the American economy:
 
• Child hunger first causes health problems. Hungry children are sick more often, and are more likely to suffer physical, emotional, and developmental impairment.

• Child hunger then leads to educational problems. Under-nutrition before the age of three changes the neurological architecture of the brain and central nervous system, harming a child’s ability to learn. Hungry children have lower academic achievement.

• Ultimately, child hunger leads to workforce and job readiness problems. Adults who experienced hunger as children are not well-prepared mentally, emotionally, physically, or socially to perform in a work environment.

“This is the first report to show the direct, tax-payer burden inflicted by child hunger—along with a clear link to long-term impacts, such as life-time earnings and the ripple effects through our economy,” said Vicki Escarra, president and CEO of Feeding America. “It calls into question whether ongoing economic recovery can be sustained if child hunger is not eliminated; we can only achieve a prosperous future for all Americans if we ensure, right now, that all children have access to enough nutritious food for active, healthy lives.

The report was issued by Feeding America on July 1, 2009, and was funded with a grant from the ConAgra Foods Foundation. Read the complete report at www.feedingamerica.org/recovery.