Question

Identify some important nutrition-related health problems facing people who live in the United States. What are the possible ways to alleviate hunger or obesity problems in the US? Discuss what kinds of barriers interfere with the implementation of these solutions? post are to be between 150 and 200 words

Answer 1

Some important nutrition-related health problems faced by people who live in the United States are:

Overweight and Obesity:  In the United States, 19% of young people aged 2 to 19 years and 40% of adults have obesity, which can put them at risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers. In addition, obesity costs the US health care system $147 billion a year.

Heart Disease and Stroke

Two of the leading causes of heart disease and stroke are high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol. Over 70% of the sodium that Americans eat comes from packaged, processed, store-bought, and restaurant foods.

Type 2 Diabetes

People who are overweight or have obesity are at increased risk of type 2 diabetes compared to those at a normal weight because, over time, their bodies become less able to use the insulin they make. Of US adults, 88 million—more than 1 in 3—have prediabetes, and more than 8 in 10 of them don’t know they have it.

Cancer

An unhealthy diet can increase the risk of some cancers. Overweight and obesity are associated with at least 13 types of cancer, including endometrial (uterine) cancer, breast cancer in postmenopausal women, and colorectal cancer.

Deficits in Brain Function

The brain develops most quickly in the first 1,000 days of life, from the start of pregnancy to the child’s second birthday. Having low levels of iron during pregnancy and early childhood is associated with mental and behavioral delays in children.

Undernutrition: African American and Hispanic families have greater difficulty putting enough food on the table, as do families raised by a single mother. Undernutrition has been shown to stunt physical growth in children, especially during the early years and through puberty, and also has mental consequences, leading to a less developed brain and lower test scores.

Possible ways to alleviate hunger or obesity problems in the United States:

Breastfeeding Support in the Hospital and Community: Breastfeeding is the best source of nutrition for most infants. It can reduce the risk of some short-term health conditions for infants and long-term health conditions for infants and mothers.

Healthier Food Options in Early Care and Education Facilities and Schools:

About 60 million US children spend time in early care and education facilities or schools. These settings can directly influence what children eat and drink and how active they are—and build a foundation for healthy habits. Creating resources to help partners improve obesity prevention programs and use nutrition standards.

Healthier Food Options in the Workplace: Grantees are working to make healthy foods and drinks (including water) more available in cafeterias, snack shops, and vending machines.CDC’s Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention manages the Sodium Reduction in Communities Program, which funds eight sites across the country to help schools, hospitals, and worksites offer low-sodium options in the foods they serve and sell.

Improved Access to Healthy Foods in States and Communities:

Some Americans in low-income urban neighborhoods, rural areas, and tribal communities have little access to healthy foods, such as fruits and vegetables, that are also affordable. CDC’s State Physical Activity and Nutrition Program, High Obesity Program, and Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health program fund states and communities to improve food systems in these areas through food hubs, local stores, farmers’ markets, and bodegas.

Lifestyle Change Programs to Reduce Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes Risk: Researchers and community organizations come together to improve screening for obesity and deliver affordable lifestyle change programs to children with obesity. These family-centered programs located in Federally Qualified Health Centers, clinics, or community venues can improve children’s dietary habits, weight, and health, reducing their risk of chronic diseases.

Create jobs, raise wages, increase opportunity, and share prosperity.: Americans need jobs with adequate hours, good wages, reliable hours, and benefits that support families to prevent hunger.

Improve government income-support programs for struggling families: Nutrition programs alone cannot carry the whole burden of public anti-poverty and anti-hunger supports when employment falls short. Even with better wages and a stronger health and cash income safety net, it will be crucial to strengthen the nation’s nutrition programs.

Strengthen Child Nutrition Programs: Child nutrition programs (school lunch and breakfast, afterschool and summer food, WIC, and child care food) are essential tools for ending childhood hunger.

Target supports to especially vulnerable populations: Successfully attacking hunger in the U.S. includes strategies focused on those populations struggling the most.

Work with states, localities, and nonprofits to expand and improve participation in federal nutrition programs: The framework of the federal income support and nutrition programs needs strengthening, but state and local governments, and nonprofit intermediaries for those programs, need to build on the programs’ existing considerable strengths and improve on-the-ground access to them.

Make sure all families have convenient access to reasonably priced, healthy food: Many neighborhoods and towns across America lack decent-sized stores that sell a good variety of food, including fresh produce, at reasonable prices.

Build political will: The nation needs its political, religious, and civic leaders at all levels to speak out about the real causes of, costs of, and solutions to hunger and poverty.

Kinds of barriers interfere with the implementation of these solutions:

• Local and national governments have important roles in bringing healthier food and food security to their populations and no country has implemented a full range of updated, comprehensive, and evidence informed strategies to encourage a healthier and more equitable food system

• Given the remarkable health and economic burden of diet related illness and the need for multistakeholder solutions, a coordinated national food and nutrition policy strategy should be a priority for all governments.

• Government must have appropriate knowledge to translate evidence into policy action. This includes an evidence based assessment of what defines a healthy diet; an understanding of diet related health and risk distributions overall and in at-risk subpopulations; analyses of how poor diet affects non-health sectors such as private businesses or the military; and consideration of environmental and societal values such as sustainability, equity, and justice.

• Insufficient awareness of policy makers of these factors can be compounded by evolving science and conflicting media messages.

• New metrics are needed that allow the healthiness of food products to be compared on multiple nutrient criteria. In addition, tackling obesity is sometimes seen as the only goal of nutrition policy and programming, rather than improved diet quality and overall health and wellbeing.

• Government must have the capacity to intervene. For many governments, developing a comprehensive nutritional policy will be new and unfamiliar, and require acknowledgement of certain limitations of the current system.

• Surveillance systems for monitoring and evaluating nutrition trends and disparities are under resourced.

• Factors driving government food production policy (eg, employment, short term business profits, and international competition) may be different from those driving nutrition policy.

• Although dietary shifts can have rapid effects on health, the perception that dietary interventions require long periods to achieve benefits may not coincide with political and budget cycles.

• When policies are passed, lack of implementation because of limited resources, management, and accountability can greatly limit their effect.