At some point during 2009, more than 17 million households in the United States had difficulty providing enough food for all their members because of a lack of resources. In more than one-third of these households, the food intake of some household members was reduced and normal eating patterns were disrupted due to limited resources. The Workshop on Understanding the Relationship Between Food Insecurity and Obesity was held to explore the biological, economic, psychosocial, and other factors that may influence the relationship between food insecurity, overweight, and obesity in the United States.



Hunger and Obesity examines current concepts and research findings in the field. The report identifies information gaps, proposes alternative approaches to analyzing data, recommends new data that should be collected, and addresses the limitations of the available research.



Table of Contents


Front Matter
Overview
1 Goals of the Workshop
2 Setting the Stage for the Coexistence of Food Insecurity and Obesity
3 Socioeconomic Disparities: Food Insecurity and Obesity
4 Sentinel Populations
5 Socioecological Perspectives: The Individual Level
6 Socioecological Perspectives: The Family and Household Level
7 Socioecological Perspectives: The Environmental Level
8 Socioecological Perspectives: The Institutional Level
9 Putting the Levels Together
10 Research Applications
11 Research Gaps from a Disciplinary Perspective
12 Research Methods and Measures
13 Key Elements, Priorities, and Next Steps
Appendix A: Workshop Agenda
Appendix B: Planning Committee Biographical Sketches
Appendix C: Speaker Biographical Sketches
Appendix D: Workshop Participants
Appendix E: Acronyms
Appendix F: Roundtable Discussions
Appendix G: Public Comments
Appendix H: Brief List of Recurring Workshop Discussions