Nearly 2 million adults in Massachusetts suffer from food insecurity, according to a recent report by The Greater Boston Food Bank.
“One in three Bostonians are talking about not having enough food or not knowing where their next meal is going to come from,” Dr. Katherine Gergen Barnett, vice chair of primary care innovation and transformation at Boston Medical Center, told Boston Public Radio on Tuesday.
Food insecurity has been linked to wide-ranging and damaging health effects, including increased rates of obesity, chronic illness, developmental problems and mental health conditions.
It doesn’t help that climate change is expected to further increase food costs due to severe weather’s impact on farm production and the potential for increased spread of bird flu.
Gergen Barnett shared the story of one patient who lost weight and saw her health improve while on SNAP and pandemic relief benefits, which helped her afford healthier food options. Then the pandemic relief disappeared. And she started earning a higher wage, which made her ineligible for SNAP — and her health declined.
“It actually puts people in a real bind where they sometimes don’t want to pick up that extra job or their extra shift or get that promotion,” said Gergen Barrett.
She said her patient was no longer able to afford healthy food, so she came into the doctor’s office asking for a weight loss drug. But that approach doesn’t get at the root of the problem, Gergen Barnett said.
“This patient’s health and the health of millions of people like her are undoubtedly connected to the poor food and policy choices we have made as a country,” Gergen Barnett recently wrote in an opinion piece for the Boston Globe.
There are alternative ways to approach the problem of food affordability, Gergen Barnett said. For example, she said the Legislature could make food benefits more accessible by broadening the coverage for people living on the edge of food insecurity.
