Boston-area physicians have recently turned their attention to the problem of malnourishment among poor residents, since eating healthily on a very low budget is an increasingly challenging proposition.
Poor urban areas are especially afflicted and the number of babies requiring treatment for malnutrition has tripled in Boston since 1999, according to The Marin Independent Journal.
"Malnutrition is not an eyeball diagnosis in this city," according to Dr. Deborah Frank, director of Boston Medical Center's Grow Clinic for Children. "You may have walked past many little round-faced kids on the street and said, 'Oh, what a cute one-year-old.'
What you don't know is that's a malnourished three year old," she said.
Low-income families are finding themselves with a decreasing amount of income to spend on food, but the price of food isn't the largest problem.
"Food prices in the grocery store aren't where the real pinch is in the Boston metro area," according to Professor Parke Wilde of Tufts' Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. "I would be just terrified to be low-income looking for housing."
Housing, especially in a major metropolitan area such as Boston, can seriously squeeze families who are already on tight budgets.
According to Professor Beatrice Rogers, also of the Friedman School, the food stamp allotments given to low-income families are still calculated according to a decades-old formula assuming that families divide their income evenly among three categories: food, housing, and all other expenditures.
The problem is that families "spend 50 percent [of their income] or well over on housing," Rogers said. "What gets squeezed is food."
Because of the social stigma of becoming homeless, some families continue to pay rent rather than spending money on adequate food, according to Rogers. Other factors compound the problem, including low-income families' lack of education about good food choices and the dearth of accessible options that are also nutritious.
Rogers said an active homemaker with some knowledge about healthy food preparation could, in theory, provide for his family on food stamp allotments. But parents - especially single parents - often do not have the time, energy, or knowledge to achieve this, she said.
Studies have shown this problem to be exacerbated by the fact that healthy food choices are often limited in low-income neighborhoods, according to The Marin Independent Journal. Many families end up buying pre-packaged, generally less healthy foods from local convenience stores.
"Means of transport is key," Rogers said, since well-stocked supermarkets are often located in isolated suburban locations. Unfortunately, this is often an option low-income, urban residents often don't have.
