Chapter 15 A Closer Look: Food Insecurity in the United States

According to the definitions used by the USDA Economic Resource Service, what percentage of U.S. households had access, at all times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all members?

88.9%

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a ribeye steak has an energy density of approximately 2,650 kcal/kg. A person could conceivably consume 730,000 kcal/year simply by eating 275.5 kg of steak over the course of a year, or 26.5 oz every day. Would a person who did this be likely to be properly nourished, and why or why not?

No; beef lacks some essential nutrients. The person would probably suffer from malnutrition.

Federal assistance program for healthcare and nutrition of low-income pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and infants and children under the age of five.

WIC

Federally assisted meal program operating in public and non-profit private schools and residential childcare institutions.

National School Lunch Program

Provides home-delivered meals services to people who are unable to prepare their own meals.

Meals on Wheels

Often occurs when a child is weaned by his mother due to the birth of a new baby

Kwashiorkor

Food insecurity with hunger

Very low food security

The number of people that a region can support without environmental degradation

Carrying capacity

Widespread and extreme scarcity of food in an area that causes starvation and death in a population

Famine

An inadequate amount of food due to a lack of resources

Food insufficiency

Reduced quality of life with little or no indication of reduced food intake

Low food security

Named from the Greek word meaning "dying away"

Marasmus