The Health Consequences of Food Insecurity

Isabella O'Neal

While food insecurity has been on a steady decline, it is still a largely widespread problem in the United States that affected more than 5.3 million households across the country in 2020. Food insecurity is also known to lead to other various health problems, including obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. Therefore, food insecurity is undoubtedly a problem that needs to be addressed, and it can only be solved once we understand the issue and its consequences in their entirety. Our study consisted of 128 Greenwood County inhabitants, with ages ranging between 18 and 79. All participants were volunteers, recruited throughout the community. The survey itself was comprised of 85 questions, with some including sub-questions within, and ended with 12 demographics questions. The aim of this study was to understand factors such as individuals’ eating and physical activity habits, food insecurity, stress levels, etc., as a means to find correlations between them; many questions also addressed the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. While many of the questions were qualitative, as many as possible were transformed into a quantitative format so that statistical tests could be done to determine the significance, correlation, and/or relationship between the variables. Our study has found that as the severity of an individual’s food insecurity increases, their access to healthy food options decreases; many of the participants of this study also stated they would eat healthier if they had easier access and more affordable options.

• Isabella O’Neal graduated from North Augusta High School in North Augusta, SC. She is currently a junior in nursing with a minor in sociology. Her achievements include working as a peer tutor on Lander’s campus, and working as a volunteer at University Hospital for two years in high school; she is hoping to become a Nurse Practitioner in the future.