{"id":15996,"date":"2021-09-21T09:48:20","date_gmt":"2021-09-21T13:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=15996"},"modified":"2021-09-21T21:19:21","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T01:19:21","slug":"news21-covid-19-exposes-food-security-issues-in-indian-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/09\/21\/news21-covid-19-exposes-food-security-issues-in-indian-country\/","title":{"rendered":"News21: COVID-19 exposes food security issues in Indian Country"},"content":{"rendered":" \"<\/a>
Leaders of the Navajo Nation break ground on the Kayenta Wellness Center in Kayenta, Arizona, on September 16, 2021. The $1.2 million facility will provide nutrition education and include a kitchen and rooms for fitness activities, such as cycling and aerobics. Photo: Navajo Nation Office of President and Vice President<\/figcaption>\r\n
Poor nutrition heavily influences COVID-19 death toll, studies find<\/div>\r\n
Tuesday, September 21, 2021<\/div>\r\n
By Robert Tann<\/div>\r\n
News21<\/div>\r\n
news21.com<\/a><\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nEven before COVID-19, America faced a crisis of poor nutrition aggravated by widespread food insecurity. Those underlying factors, researchers say, allowed the disease to decimate poor communities.

<\/p>\r\nMore than 42% of Americans are obese<\/a>, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly half of adults have hypertension<\/a>, and heart disease<\/a> contributes to 1 in every 4 deaths in the U.S.

<\/p>\r\nWhen the pandemic was declared in March 2020, a population riddled with underlying conditions found itself unable to fend off the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The U.S. has recorded the most COVID-19 deaths in the world, with more than 652,000<\/a> and rising by more than 1,000 a day, the CDC says.

<\/p>\r\nResearchers are studying possible connections between poor diet and America\u2019s staggering death toll. Early studies show deaths could be affected by multiple factors, including rates of vaccination, mask and social distancing policies, and environmental pollution.<\/a>

<\/p>\r\nBut the types of food that Americans eat \u2013 spurred by government policies and discrimination against people of color \u2013 may be another cause, researchers say.

<\/p>\r\n\u201cI think \u2026 beyond a doubt that poor nutrition has contributed to more severe COVID outcomes, more hospitalizations and more deaths,\u201d said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy in Boston.

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<\/P>\r\nMozaffarian co-authored a study published in February<\/a> estimating that about two-thirds of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. are due to just four conditions<\/a>: obesity, diabetes, hypertension and heart failure. Mozaffarian called COVID-19 the perfect storm for these underlying conditions to wreak havoc on the body.

<\/p>\r\n\u201cCOVID-19 is not just a virus that attacks the lungs, like a normal flu virus,\u201d he said. \u201cCOVID-19 is a virus that attacks the blood vessels and causes really excess inflammation \u2026 and so it\u2019s like pouring gasoline on the fire.\u201d

<\/p>\r\nAccording to a CDC analysis<\/a> of more than 148,000 COVID-19 patients from April 1 to Dec. 31, 2020, 78% were overweight or obese. The agency flagged obesity as a major risk for hospitalization and death<\/a> from COVID-19.

<\/p>\r\n\u201cClearly, our poor diet, our poor health has contributed to this extremely sobering number of deaths that we\u2019ve seen through COVID,\u201d said Carey Gillam, an investigative journalist and public interest researcher for US Right to Know<\/a>, a nonprofit food policy research group in Oakland, California.

<\/p>\r\nGillam said the federal government has long neglected to support more healthful eating in America. Her reporting<\/a> has exposed the ties between government agencies and corporations.

<\/p>\r\n\u201cFor decades now, our government has really supported unhealthy food choices, and they have been led down this path by very powerful and wealthy food conglomerates,\u201d Gillam said. \u201cThere are programs in place and subsidy programs that support growing monoculture, corn and soybeans, that are used as ingredients in a lot of fast foods. There aren\u2019t a lot of good programs out there to support growing organic food or growing (a) more diverse supply of food.\u201d

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Race and class disparities<\/div>\r\nThe disparities in diet-related illnesses also correlate with the coronavirus\u2019 disproportionate effects on communities of color.

<\/p>\r\nA September 2020 article in the New England Journal of Medicine<\/a> cites a study of five New York City boroughs that found the rate of hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19 was highest in the Bronx, which also has the highest rates of obesity and food-related disease of those five boroughs. The disparities, the article states, could have made the borough\u2019s predominantly Black and Hispanic residents more vulnerable to the effects of COVID-19.

<\/p>\r\nYuki Kato, an assistant professor of sociology at Georgetown University, said access to wholesome food often is limited in more diverse neighborhoods.

<\/p>\r\n\u201cMiddle-class, predominantly white areas typically have (an) abundance of food choices,\u201d Kato said. \u201cLower-income areas, the communities of color tend to have much more limited options if there is any grocery stores.\u201d

<\/p>\r\nKato co-authored a May 2020 study<\/a> noting that diet tends to be viewed in society as an individual choice. Instead, the study found, diet-related conditions are the result of the racism and classism prevalent in the production and distribution of food.

<\/p>\r\n\u201cOftentimes, the problem isn\u2019t so much that people don\u2019t know that people should eat healthy,\u201d Kato said. \u201cIt\u2019s just really more about access to the tools to do what they already know they need to do.\u201d

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<\/P>\r\nFood deserts<\/a>, which are areas where the nearest grocery store is at least a mile away, and food swamps<\/a>, where fast-food outlets outnumber healthful food options, tend to be found in lower-income areas. According to the most recent report from the USDA, about 39.5 million people live in low-income areas with little access to healthful food.

<\/p>\r\nEven when a supermarket offering healthier options moves into a neighborhood, Kato said, it risks displacing lower-income communities who can\u2019t afford higher costs.

<\/p>\r\n\u201cIs it really solving food security issues,\u201d she asked, \u201cif the people who actually live in that neighborhood \u2026 get displaced and get further moved away from the places where they used to afford housing and food and no longer (can) afford either?\u201d

<\/p>\r\nBefore the pandemic, 22% of Arizona households experienced \u201climited or inconsistent access to nutritious and affordable food,\u201d which increased to 28% in the first four months of 2021, according to a study<\/a> by Arizona State University researchers and the National Food Access and COVID Research Team, which has members from ASU and the University of Arizona.

<\/p>\r\nAmerican Indian and Alaska Natives in Arizona experienced the highest increase in food insecurity, affecting 43% of households, a 13 percentage point increase from prepandemic levels. Black households had the second-highest level of food insecurity, at 42%, the same rate as before the pandemic. Hispanic households saw a 10 percentage point increase to 39%. Non-Hispanic white households had the lowest level of food insecurity: 15% before the pandemic and 19% after.

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Pantry expands access to healthful food<\/div>\r\nAs the pandemic left millions of Americans hungry, community members stepped up to help families in need.

<\/p>\r\nSister Robin Haines, who runs a small food pantry in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said members of vulnerable communities know what\u2019s happening.

<\/p>\r\n\u201cPeople come to us because they\u2019ll say, \u2018What I ate from you doesn\u2019t taste like what I buy in the grocery store,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to bolster people not just physically, but also mentally and spiritually.\u201d

<\/p>\r\nHaines began her pantry, Sister Robin\u2019s Street Market<\/a>, in April 2020 after seeing pictures of Florida farmers dumping crops they couldn\u2019t sell.

<\/p>\r\n\u201cWhen I first saw the picture on social media, I couldn\u2019t believe it because we don\u2019t have mountains or hills here in South Florida, and I\u2019m like, \u2018What is that?\u2019\u201d Haines recalled. \u201cI zoomed in and it was yellow squash and zucchini.\u201d

<\/p>\r\nHaines drove north to collect the produce and bring it back to her church, where she distributed the food on the street, attracting people through a Facebook event. She soon began raising money to buy boxes of produce from the farmers, and before long, Haines had started her own food pantry.

<\/p>\r\nHaines said her pantry initially focused on feeding service workers who lost their jobs during lockdowns, but she soon began attracting people from all across the city. At times, she would feed up to 60 families on Saturday afternoons. Now she averages about 20 families per week.

<\/p>\r\n\u201cIn the beginning, we had to work so hard with people because they were ashamed; they didn\u2019t want to come back,\u201d Haines said. \u201cBut then as we were able to slowly get to know people more, that\u2019s when we began to hear more stories \u2026 and that helped.\u201d

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