The Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) is a program created in 2010 by the Obama administration as part of the Let's Move! public health campaign. [1] [2] It is a partnership between the Department of Health and Human Services, the Treasury Department, and the Department of Agriculture, which seeks to address inequality in food access, and encourage the growth of food retailers such as grocery stores and farmer's markets in so-called food deserts, where there is limited availability of healthy food options, and a community over-reliance on fast food and convenience stores. [3] : 293 [4] : 446 To address this, the program provides "financing to grocers or real estate developers seeking to open or expand stores in areas without adequate access to affordable, nutritious foods." [5]
As of 2018 [update] the program has awarded $220 million in grants and assistance, leveraged approximately $1 billion through private investment and other sources, and supported approximately 1,000 businesses in 35 states. [6]
HFFI is modeled after a similar project, the New York Fresh Food Financing Initiative (NY FFFI). [3] : 293 [7] PA FFFI was founded in 2004, and as of 2010 had opened around 80 stores providing access to food for around 400,000 people, as well supporting approximately 4,800 related job. [8]
Previous studies of the effectiveness of such a program have had mixed results, but also suffered from small sample sizes. One 2015 study found overall negative effects on diet, and no improvement for "fruit and vegetable intake, whole grain consumption or body mass index" and ultimately recommended further study. [9]
On February 14, 2018, House Bill 5017 was introduced by Ohio Representative Marcia Fudge to reauthorize HFFI. [10]
A healthy diet is a diet that maintains or improves overall health. A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrition: fluid, macronutrients such as protein, micronutrients such as vitamins, and adequate fibre and food energy.
The basic needs approach is one of the major approaches to the measurement of absolute poverty in developing countries globally. It works to define the absolute minimum resources necessary for long-term physical well-being, usually in terms of consumption goods. The poverty line is then defined as the amount of income required to satisfy the needs of the people. The "basic needs" approach was introduced by the International Labour Organization's World Employment Conference in 1976. "Perhaps the high point of the WEP was the World Employment Conference of 1976, which proposed the satisfaction of basic human needs as the overriding objective of national and international development policy. The basic needs approach to development was endorsed by governments and workers' and employers' organizations from all over the world. It influenced the programmes and policies of major multilateral and bilateral development agencies, and was the precursor to the human development approach."
Food policy is the area of public policy concerning how food is produced, processed, distributed, purchased, or provided. Food policies are designed to influence the operation of the food and agriculture system balanced with ensuring human health needs. This often includes decision-making around production and processing techniques, marketing, availability, utilization, and consumption of food, in the interest of meeting or furthering social objectives. Food policy can be promulgated on any level, from local to global, and by a government agency, business, or organization. Food policymakers engage in activities such as regulation of food-related industries, establishing eligibility standards for food assistance programs for the poor, ensuring safety of the food supply, food labeling, and even the qualifications of a product to be considered organic.
A food desert is an area that has limited access to affordable and nutritious food. In contrast, an area with greater access to supermarkets and vegetable shops with fresh foods may be called a food oasis. The designation considers the type and the quality of food available to the population, in addition to the accessibility of the food through the size and the proximity of the food stores.
A sustainable food system is a type of food system that provides healthy food to people and creates sustainable environmental, economic, and social systems that surround food. Sustainable food systems start with the development of sustainable agricultural practices, development of more sustainable food distribution systems, creation of sustainable diets, and reduction of food waste throughout the system. Sustainable food systems have been argued to be central to many or all 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Nutritional rating systems are used to communicate the nutritional value of food in a more-simplified manner, with a ranking, than nutrition facts labels. A system may be targeted at a specific audience. Rating systems have been developed by governments, non-profit organizations, private institutions, and companies. Common methods include point systems to rank foods based on general nutritional value or ratings for specific food attributes, such as cholesterol content. Graphics and symbols may be used to communicate the nutritional values to the target audience.
Supermarket shortages have been identified in many American urban neighborhoods, and such gaps in food access have been closely correlated with diet-related diseases such as cancer, obesity, and diabetes. The shortage began when many supermarkets left mixed-income central city neighborhoods after civil disturbances in the late 1960s and 1970s. By 1984, store openings exceeded closings nationally, but the opposite held in cities; and the trend continues. The reluctance of large chains to open in urban areas is termed by some activists, "supermarket redlining."
Obesity is common in the United States and is a major health issue associated with numerous diseases, specifically an increased risk of certain types of cancer, coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and cardiovascular disease, as well as significant increases in early mortality and economic costs.
Nutrition education is a set of learning experiences designed to assist in healthy eating choices and other nutrition-related behavior. It includes any combination of educational strategies, accompanied by environmental supports, designed to facilitate voluntary adoption of food choices and other food and nutrition-related behaviors conducive to health and well-being. Nutrition education is delivered through multiple venues and involves activities at the individual, community, and policy levels. Nutrition Education also critically looks at issues such as food security, food literacy, and food sustainability.
Social class differences in food consumption refers to how the quantity and quality of food varies according to a person's social status or position in the social hierarchy. Various disciplines, including social, psychological, nutritional, and public health sciences, have examined this topic. Social class can be examined according to defining factors — education, income, or occupational status — or subjective components, like perceived rank in society.
The Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) is a federal assistance program in the United States associated with the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children that provides fresh, unprepared, locally grown fruits and vegetables and nutrition education to WIC participants. Women, infants and children that have been certified to receive WIC program benefits or who are on a waiting list for WIC certification are eligible to participate in the FMNP.
Workplace health promotion is the combined efforts of employers, employees, and society to improve the mental and physical health and well-being of people at work. The term workplace health promotion denotes a comprehensive analysis and design of human and organizational work levels with the strategic aim of developing and improving health resources in an enterprise. The World Health Organization has prioritized the workplace as a setting for health promotion because of the large potential audience and influence on all spheres of a person's life. The Luxembourg Declaration provides that health and well-being of employees at work can be achieved through a combination of:
The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) is a nonprofit organization created in conjunction with - but separate from - former First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! effort in 2010. PHA works with the private sector to transform the food landscape in pursuit of health equity. Mrs. Obama currently serves as PHA's honorary chair, and alongside Higher Ground Productions, launched the Pass the Love w/ Waffles + Mochi campaign on March 10, 2021, with PHA to raise funds to aid in the distribution of 1 million meals to families in need around the country. Inspired by the Netflix series Waffles + Mochi, the campaign also raises awareness about food equity.
Hunger in the United States of America affects millions of Americans, including some who are middle class, or who are in households where all adults are in work. The United States produces far more food than it needs for domestic consumption—hunger within the U.S. is caused by some Americans having insufficient money to buy food for themselves or their families. Additional causes of hunger and food insecurity include neighborhood deprivation and agricultural policy. Hunger is addressed by a mix of public and private food aid provision. Public interventions include changes to agricultural policy, the construction of supermarkets in underserved neighborhoods, investment in transportation infrastructure, and the development of community gardens. Private aid is provided by food pantries, soup kitchens, food banks, and food rescue organizations.
Obesity and the environment aims to look at the different environmental factors that researchers worldwide have determined cause and perpetuate obesity. Obesity is a condition in which a person's weight is higher than what is considered healthy for their height, and is the leading cause of preventable death worldwide. Obesity can result from several factors such as poor nutritional choices, overeating, genetics, culture, and metabolism. Many diseases and health complications are associated with obesity. Worldwide, the rates of obesity have nearly tripled since 1975, leading health professionals to label the condition as a modern epidemic in most parts of the world. Current worldwide population estimates of obese adults are near 13%; overweight adults total approximately 39%.
The eating culture of the Navajo Nation is heavily influenced by the history of its people. The Navajo are a Native American people located in the southwestern United States whose location was a major influence in the development of their culture. As such, New World foods such as corn, boiled mutton, goat meat, acorns, potatoes, and grapes were used widely by the Navajo people prior to and during European colonization of the Americas.
Food security in the Central Valley, California, United states is a widespread issue. The Central Valley is where most of the state's and the nation's agriculture is produced. Despite this, many people living and working in the valley's agriculture industry are food insecure in some way, with contributing factors including lack of food sources, lack of healthy food choices, or income barriers. About a third of many Central Valley counties' populations were documented as food insecure in 2009. Due to the lack of healthy food choices, high rates of obesity have also been found in the Central Valley.
The Food Justice Movement is a grassroots initiative which emerged in response to food insecurity and economic pressures that prevent access to healthy, nutritious, and culturally appropriate foods. It includes more broad policy movements, such as the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.
This is a list of food desert issues and solutions by country.
The planetary health diet is a flexitarian diet created by the EAT-Lancet commission as part of a report released in The Lancet on 16 January 2019. The aim of the report and the diet it developed is to create dietary paradigms that have the following aims:
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