Columnist Dr. David Gottsegen: Hunger in America

Hardly a day went by in my pediatric practice that I did not care for a child who suffered from food insecurity. The term food insecurity, “a limited or uncertain availability of adequate and safe foods,” has an unfortunate technical ring to it. It’s perhaps better simply to use the word “hunger.” And when people are hungry, they’ll fill up on the most available and least expensive foods available — the ultra-processed, high-calorie, shelf-stable junk food sold everywhere, even in the “food deserts” affecting low-income inner-city areas of the United States. This is a major contributor to obesity, which affects 24 million parents and children, and 50 million Americans. According to Linda Nageotte, CEO of Feeding America, a consortium of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries across the country, we are facing the highest incidence of hunger since the Great Recession.

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