COMING UP SHORT
Hub families struggling to keep kids fed
Not getting enough food as a child — even for a short period of time — can have negative consequences for a lifetime — affecting brain development, school performance, memory and attentiveness, researchers say.
“It can affect their mental health over the long term,” said Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba, a policy expert at Children’s HealthWatch through Boston University’s School of Public Health. “Kids who have been food insecure have a lot more health problems.”
In Massachusetts, families are struggling to put food on the table as food becomes less affordable, according to new data released yesterday by Feeding America, a national network of food banks. About 10.3 percent of the total population in the state, or 700,000 people, are “food insecure” or do not know when their next meal is coming.
Across the state, a single person in that group falls $19.21 short each week to pay for food, up 4.1 percent from $18.45. A family of four is short about $80 each week.
Among preschool age children, lack of access to food is linked to hyperactivity, aggressive behavior and anxiety and depression, according to a 2016 study published by the BU School of Medicine. Among school-age children, kids aged 6 to 13 were more likely to miss school and develop anxiety and depression and lack self control and normal interpersonal relations.
“It sets up your body early on to not function optimally for later in life,” Ettinger de Cuba said.
“Ultimately, kids aren’t developing to their full potential.”
The Children’s HealthWatch uses the hunger vital sign — a two-question screening tool to identify young children in households at risk of hunger that asks whether in the last year they worried whether their food would run out before they got money, and whether they did in fact run out.