Many consider obesity a disease of overconsumption, but others worry about food insecurity, the problem of not having enough to eat. The Map the Meal Gap survey, updated in 2012, by Feeding America, a domestic hunger-relief charity based at Chicago, IL, found that no county in the US was free of food insecurity, ranging from a low of 5% to a high of 37%. In November 2011, the Economic Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) found 49 million people living in food insecure households, 16 million of whom are children.

“More than one in five American children are food insecure,” said Don Trouba, director of marketing, ConAgra Mills, Omaha, NE, citing the USDA data. “They don’t have consistent access to food throughout the year.”