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Between 2005 and 2020, the number of children facing simultaneous water and food insecurity in the United States more than doubled. Additionally, Black and Hispanic children are several times more likely to experience simultaneous food and water insecurity than White children.
That's according to new research by Asher Rosinger, associate professor of biobehavioral health and anthropology at Pennsylvania State University, and Sela Young, associate professor of anthropology at Northwestern University.
In a study published in the journal Nature Water, researchers looked at water insecurity, food insecurity, and their co-occurrence among children in the United States.
The researchers analyzed data on 18,252 children using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a nationally representative assessment of health and nutrition that has been conducted annually since 1999 and sporadically since the 1960s.
According to the researchers, water and food insecurity — the lack of stable and safe access to food and water — can have devastating effects on healthy development. Water scarcity is associated with problems in mental health, physical health, nutrition and economic well-being. Food insecurity is associated with poor mental health, diabetes, malnutrition, obesity, cardiovascular disease and premature death.
Around the world, food and water insecurity is often caused by poverty, inadequate access to resources and climate-related issues, according to the researchers.
A variety of circumstances can lead to food and water insecurity in high-income countries like the U.S. Although more common among lower-income populations, the researchers said water and food insecurity is occurring far more frequently in the U.S. than expected.
Growing concerns
In 2005-2006, 4.6% of all children in the U.S. experienced both water and food insecurity. In the 2017-2020 survey cycle, researchers found that the percentage of children facing both issues had risen to 10.3% nationwide.
Rates of food and water insecurity have improved overall over the course of the 20th century, said Rosinger, who directs the Environmental Health Sciences Program in Penn State's College of Health and Human Development and the Water, Health and Nutrition Institute. But over the study period, the researchers found a steady, gradual increase in household food insecurity of any kind.
Water insecurity fluctuated from 2005 to 2013. Then, in 2013, the water crisis in Flint, Michigan made national news. Between 2013 and 2020, odds of water insecurity (measured by whether a child did not drink tap water) increased by 88%.
According to the researchers, water and food issues are intrinsically linked: their previous work has documented a link between water and food insecurity in adults, and this paper demonstrates that children who avoid tap water are also more likely to experience food insecurity.
Avoiding tap water is associated with other issues that can negatively impact food and water intake, Rosinger said. People who avoid tap water are less likely to prepare nutritious food for their children because they don't have a reliable source of water at their kitchen tap. People who avoid tap water also have higher intakes of sugary beverages. Plus, they may have less money to buy nutritious food because they buy bottled water, which is much more expensive.
“By 2020, nearly 1 in 10 children experienced household food insecurity and were avoiding running water, and we know that the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated food insecurity,” Rosinger said, “which means millions of children in this country face potential negative impacts to their mental, physical and economic futures.”
Huge racial disparities
The numbers are much higher for Hispanic children when compared to the national average, according to the researchers. Findings show that black children are 3.5 times more likely to experience simultaneous food and water insecurity than white children. Meanwhile, Hispanic children are more than seven times more likely to experience simultaneous food and water insecurity than white children.
While access to safe, reliable water is a crucial part of water security, trust in tap water is also an important factor for both children and their parents. The researchers said that if parents don't trust the water, they are less likely to give it to their children for fear of making them sick.
“Most people know that Flint, Michigan, has experienced a crisis related to unsafe water, and Flint is a majority black community,” Rosinger said.
“Since then, minority-majority areas like Newark, New Jersey, and Jackson, Mississippi have experienced highly visible problems with their water systems. When we see people who look like us on the news getting sick from our tap water, it reinforces our distrust. Additionally, minorities, especially those living in low-income communities, often have poorer access to services.”
Rossinger explained reports of people seeing brown water coming out of their taps and being told it was safe to drink. “But the smell, the taste and the color all affect whether people trust the water,” he said. “This distrust is reasonable and needs to be addressed.”
Understanding water scarcity
While the NHANES data included an indicator of food insecurity, water insecurity was not directly assessed in the survey. To understand when children became water insecure, the researchers found a variable that could serve as a proxy for water insecurity: tap water avoidance. Rosinger's previous research has demonstrated that tap water avoidance can be a window into understanding water insecurity.
“For all income groups except the lowest income groups, not drinking tap water increases the likelihood that children will experience food insecurity,” Rosinger said.
“While children from low- and low-middle-income families were most affected, even families with incomes several times the national poverty level had children who were more likely to become food insecure if they did not drink tap water.”
The analysis found that children from families below the poverty line were significantly more likely to experience food insecurity, regardless of whether they had tap water or not.
The researchers said water scarcity is expected to increase globally in the coming years due to pressures from climate change, population growth and aging infrastructure. While they said water avoidance data is useful, they believe it is important to directly measure the experience of water scarcity.
“You can't manage what you can't measure,” Young said. “The first step is to understand the scope of the problem. Avoidance of tap water is a strong indicator of water scarcity, but we clearly need to better understand who is struggling and the extent of their struggle.”
Young led the development of the Water Insecurity Experiences Scale (WISE), an innovative tool designed to measure universal experiences of water insecurity and inform development efforts and policy implementation. The WISE scale surveys individuals on 12 experiences related to water access, use and reliability.
This tool has been used to collect nationally representative data on water insecurity from at least 40 low-, middle-, and high-income countries, including among U.S. adults, but as of publication, it has not yet been adopted in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Advance
While there are no direct metrics to measure water scarcity in the U.S., the researchers agreed that a lot can be done right now to address water and food security in the country. Government programs that have proven effective in reducing food insecurity, such as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), could be expanded, the researchers said.
“Currently, in the United States, the existence of water infrastructure is considered water security,” Young said, “but piped water can be expensive, contaminated, depleted, or unavailable. And we must not forget that there are millions of people in the United States who live without piped water.”
The researchers said policy changes could reverse the trend of water scarcity. Providing water filters to Hispanic households has already been shown to reduce mistrust in tap water, increase tap water consumption and reduce reliance on bottled water, the researchers said. The researchers also recommended home water testing to assess water safety.
“While millions of people lack safe, reliable drinking water, 99 percent of American households have piped water in their homes, and the vast majority of that water is clean and potable,” Rossinger said, noting that the United States has one of the best water systems in the world.
“To restore confidence in the system, we should conduct tests that show the water is safe. Lead service pipes should be replaced and filters should be installed where the water is unsafe. These steps will help ensure our nation's children have access to the clean water they need to grow and thrive, and ensure families don't suffer extra financial and emotional stress because of uncertainty about water quality.”
Further information: Asher Y. Rosinger et al., “Trends and disparities in the co-occurrence of tap water avoidance and household food insecurity among US children,” Nature Water (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s44221-024-00261-2
Provided by Northwestern University
Source: Study Finds U.S. Children's Access to Safe Food and Water Decreasing (June 7, 2024) Retrieved June 7, 2024 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-06-access-food-decreasing-children.html
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