Food insecurity is the term used to describe households where not all members have access to enough food for an active, healthy life at all times. The US government's main strategy for dealing with it is the food stamp program; in 2005 an estimated average of 25.6 million households received food stamps each month.
Dr Parke Wilde, assistant professor at Tuft University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, told NutraIngredients-USA.com that it is fair to say there is a connection between food insecurity and nutrition problems.
Paradoxically, in food insecure families there is a higher incidence of overweight and obesity. Wilde said this may be due to a 'boom and bust cycle' caused by sporadic access to sufficient food. Food stamps are credited on a monthly basis, and the typical pattern is that recipients make a large shopping trip at that time.
Thirty percent of American adults are classified as obese (with a body mass index, or BMI, of 30 or over), and almost 65 percent are overweight (BMI between 25 and 29).
There has been some suggestion that credits could be spread across the month to discourage this, but Dr Wilde pointed out that this would make shopping more difficult for people with limited access to shops.
Food stamps can be used for almost all food and drink products, with the exception of alcohol, tobacco and some candy. Somewhat controversially, some foods that could be considered 'junk food', such as potato chips and ice cream, are included under the scheme.
Dr Wilde said that some nutritionalists have suggested the introduction of 'green stamps' reserved for fruit and vegetables but this, too, has its detractors who believe it would make the task of supporting the household more burdensome.
In August Food Stamp Vitamin and Mineral Improvement Act of 2005 was introduced by Senators Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) with the aim of extending the scope of the existing food stamp program to dietary supplements. This has met with applause from the supplements industry.
Steve Mister, president and CEO of the Council for Responsible Nutrition, said:
"Whether it's a woman of child-bearing age who should be taking a multivitamin with folic acid to prevent birth defects, or an elderly man who needs extra calcium to protect fragile bones, the food stamp program should provide low-income Americans with options and encouragement to improve their nutritional status."
While Dr Wilde said his colleagues maintain that the emphasis on nutritional advice should be on food rather than supplements, Mister emphasizes that they are called "dietary supplements, not dietary substitutes".
"Americans who make the choice to be healthy should have the means and tools to do so."
Wilde pointed out that although the 2003-4 figures show the largest rise in food insecurity in a single year since tracking began in 1995, with the exception of the past few years the trend has been towards more security.
The Rome Declaration adopted by the US and 185 other countries at the 1996 World Food Summit pledged to reduce the number of undernourished people by 50 percent by no later than 2015. In the US, the official Healthy People 2010 objective is to reduce food insecurity to 6 percent by 2010.
At its lowest point in 1999 food insecurity was at 10 percent of the population.
Dr Wilde said that since the US economy has been in a state of recovery from recession for the past three to four years, so one would expect poverty and food insecurity to be falling.
"This says something about the state of the industry," he said. "Low income people are not seeing the benefits."