ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some areas that are integral to a thorough investigation of hunger in the United States. It discusses the effects of hunger and malnutrition on human beings. The chapter presents a brief historical recountal of the history of hunger and food assistance in the United States. It describes the history of hunger surveys, types of hunger surveys conducted in the decade of the 1980s, and the National Nutrition Monitoring System. Food is the basic sustenance for human life. Malnutrition exists when an individual fails to obtain the essential nutrients in proper quantity or proportions. Protein-calorie malnutrition is a type of malnutrition that is found mainly in some poorer, developing countries. Women who begin pregnancy with poor nutritional status have higher health risks for both themselves and the unborn fetus, than do women who enter pregnancy in good nutritional condition. Low income families spend a larger proportion of their income on food than higher income families.
