Food Insecurity and Health Impacts

Children and families are making tough choices with limited resources that influence poor health and cause expensive, difficult chronic disease.   North Fulton has a number of pockets of communities that are food insecure at the 10-20+% range.  And Upper North Fulton is expected to have increased food insecurity as it is compounded by limited public transportation challenges and lack of service centralization.   (Source:  Mapping Food Insecurity in Metro Atlanta, Jerry Shannon, UGA, 2015).  Lack of a living wage causes families to also opt for purchasing inexpensive, unhealthy food because they could not afford healthier options.  Clients surveyed by the Atlanta Community Food Bank in 2014 report that 73% of households reported having to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care.  Their research confirms that food insecurity remains a persistent and even growing problem, particularly in communities located within the city’s suburbs.