Research Reveals Increasing Rates of Food Insecurity in Older Adults

A new study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society suggests that limited access to nutritious foods or food insecurity from lack of financial resources climbed from 5.5 percent to 12.4 percent among older adults in the United States between 2007 and 2016, reports the Science Times . This growth was more noticeable among those earning less money, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor's Cindy Leung said these findings indicate that food insecurity "is a serious health concern among older adults." She added that continued investment in public health programs and policies are required to improve food security and nutritional consumption for older Americans. A 2018 study summary in the same publication listed factors that lead to food insecurity among older adults — including hunger, insufficient housing, social isolation, and poverty. A report from hunger relief advocacy organization and food bank network Feeding America noted that although food insecurity for the U.S. populace declined from 2016 to 2017, the numbers for adults older than 60 were largely unchanged. More than 5 million seniors lived in hunger in 2016, and University of Illinois Professor Craig Gundersen said if growth rates hold, the population of food-insecure older adults should increase intensely in the years ahead.