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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A new study shows children who live with smokers are less likely to have adequate access to food.
Food insecurity affects about 13 million children in the United States, which means they are not able to access enough food every day of the year. This often leads to involuntary reductions in food intake and disrupted eating patterns. Previous studies have shown food insecurity is strongly associated with household income, and its estimated families with at least one smoker spend between 2 percent and 20 percent of their household income on tobacco products. Researchers say its likely smokers are depleting their financial resources needed to provide adequate food for their families.
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A recent study out of New York University School of Medicine and Bellevue Hospital System shows food insecurity is in fact more prevalent and severe in households with at least one adult smoker.
Researchers found 17 percent of children living in households with smokers experienced food insecurity, compared with 8.7 percent in non-smoking households. Adults living in smoking households experienced food insecurity 25.7 percent of the time, compared to 11.6 percent in non-smoking households. The most harshly affected were children living in low-income households with at least one smoker.
These data also demonstrate how pervasive this combination of child health risks is in low-income families, the authors conclude. The burden of food insecurity is a previously unrecognized danger of adult tobacco use to be added to the ever-growing list of negative effects of adult tobacco use on children in the United States.
SOURCE: Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 2008;162:1056-1062
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