In those very low food-secure homes, parents, and especially mothers, often "protected" young children from hunger, meaning they would go without food to allow their kids to eat, the report said.
Poor families, households with young children headed by a single parent of either sex, and black and Hispanic homes were at particular risk for food insecurity, according to the report.
Not getting enough good, healthy food to eat can result in the obvious ills of under- or malnutrition and less obvious problems ranging from poor academic results to greater risk for developing chronic disease and even obesity, the report said.
The experts from the American Dietetic Association who compiled the report called for "systematic and sustained action" at the federal and community levels to fight what they called the avoidable public health issue of food insecurity in the world's richest nation.
Source-AFP