Six Must-Read Studies about Hunger and Health

The volume of scholarly research about the intersecting fields of food insecurity and health is ever-growing.

While it is good news that more academic attention is spotlighting the complex intersections between these two topics, it can prove difficult for someone new to the conversation to get their bearings.

Fear not! To aid in our collective understanding about the issue, Feeding America has compiled a succinct list of six seminal and timely studies about hunger and health that have been recommended by our Technical Advisory Group.

Links to the abstracts are provided below; for full article access, you will be asked to provide your credentials.

Basu, S., Berkowitz, S., & Seligman, H. (2017). The Monthly Cycle of Hypoglycemia: An Observational Claims-based Study of Emergency Room Visits, Hospital Admissions, and Costs in a Commercially Insured Population. Medical Care, 00(00), 1-7. doi: 10.1097/MLR.0000000000000728
Link to Abstract

Gundersen, C., & Zillak, J. P. (2015). Food Insecurity and Health Outcomes. Health Affairs, 34(11), 1830-1839. doi:10.1377//hlthaff.2015.0645
Link to Abstract

Leung, C., Tester, J., & Laraia B. (2017). Household Food Insecurity and Ideal Cardiovascular Health Factors in US Adults. JAMA Intern Med., E1-E3. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.0239
Link to Abstract

Seligman, H. K., Bolger, A. F., Guzman, D., López, A., & Bibbins-Domingo, K. (2014). Exhaustion of Food Budgets At Month’s End And Hospital Admissions For Hypoglycemia. Health Affairs, 33(1), 116-123. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2013.0096
Link to Abstract

Seligman, H. K., & Shillinger, D. (2010). Hunger and Socioeconomic Disparities in Chronic Disease. The New England Journal of Medicine, 363:6-9. doi:10.1056/NEJMp1000072
Link to Abstract

Tarasuk, V. Cheng, J. de Oliveria, C., Dachner, N., Gundersen, C., & Kurdyak, P. (2015). Association between household food insecurity and annual health care costs. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 187(14), E249-E436. doi:10.1503/cmaj.150234
Link to Abstract

In addition, as you might know, Feeding America also regularly conducts research in an effort to better understand the lives and circumstances of individuals who face hunger, especially people who visit food banks and charitable food programs nationwide. An overview of the studies we have produced can be found here on the HungerandHealth.org.

Brittany Morgan is the Senior Research Specialist at Feeding America.