[Excerpt from feature article by Theresa Sullivan Barger, Connecticut Health Investigative Team, appearing in the CT Mirror and elsewhere]:
"The nation’s food bank system, created to provide emergency food assistance, fills a chronic need. Still, it may be perpetuating obesity among those facing hunger, concludes a new report by the University of Connecticut’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.
The jump in demand for food caused by the pandemic’s economic fallout amplifies the challenges facing those who serve the hungry.
Directors of food banks hesitate to request that donors confine their tax-deductible contributions to healthy foods for fear of alienating them, Kristen Cooksey Stowers said in the report published in PLOS ONE. [....]
Obesity rates in Connecticut have been rising for decades. In 1990, the obesity rate for adults was 10%, reports Connecticut DataHaven in its 2019 Community Health Well-Being Survey. In 2019, 27% of all adults, almost 12% of children and 14% of toddlers (ages 2-4) had obesity, according to DataHaven. And people of color are affected by obesity at higher rates. [....]"
Link:
http://c-hit.org/2020/11/02/is-food-bank-system-contributing-to-health-disparities/
