On Long Island, NY, more than 90,000 school-age children live at or below the poverty level. Hunger and more than 143,000 students are qualified to receive free or reduced-price school meals[1]. These children who rely on school lunches and breakfasts may be at-risk of hunger during the weekends, holidays, vacations and during the summer, when there is no school.
Research has confirmed what any parent can guess: that when a child is hungry, they cannot possibly perform at the same level or behave the same as the well-nourished children next to them. Extensive research[2] on childhood hunger has repeatedly demonstrated that:
· Insufficient nutrient intake during childhood has been linked to physical and mental health problems as well as emotional and behavioral problems, learning deficiencies, and lower grades.
· Children whose families experienced food insecurity while the child was a toddler are 3.4 times more likely to be obese at age 4½.
· Food-insufficient teenagers were more than twice as likely to have been suspended, almost twice as likely to have a lot or some difficulty getting along with others, and four times as likely to have no friends.
When children go hungry, they face health and developmental issues, behavioral problems, and poor academic performance.
Ironically, poverty and childhood hunger in early life has been linked to childhood obesity. Possible explanations of this include that foods high in sugar and fat are cheaper and more accessible than fresh produce. Obese children are bullied and teased more than their normal weight peers, are more likely to suffer from social isolation, depression, and lower self-esteem, and are more likely to become obese adults with the host of medical implications that obesity brings including cardiovascular problems, diabetes, increased risk for certain cancers and more.
In our work toward ending hunger on Long Island, addressing childhood hunger is a major component of Island Harvest’s operations.