Remembering the Impact of Malnutrition and Food Insecurity on Healthy Aging
Food insecurity and malnutrition can contribute to health disparities as poor diet and lack of access to healthy foods drive health inequities. Malnutrition Awareness Week, September 19–23, 2022, is a prime opportunity to raise awareness about the more than 34.8 million people living in U.S. households struggling to put food on the table. While not everyone who is food insecure is malnourished or vice versa, food insecurity and malnutrition are related conditions that impact tens of millions of people. The term food insecurity means a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food, and malnutrition is considered a state of deficit, excess or imbalance in protein, energy or other nutrients that adversely affects an individual’s body form, function and clinical outcomes.