Overfed but Undernourished (Part 1)

One reason so many are hungry among us is because we don’t have enough food to go around for everybody. The exploding billions of earth’s population aggravate the problem of our critical food situation. It is estimated that 300 million people have only 2/3 of their minimal protein needs.

It is ironic to note that the population explosion is greatest in the developing countries of the Third World (Asia, Africa, and Latin America), that segment of the world which can least afford an increase in the number of mouths to feed. Because of the fact that food supplies are finite and population increases are potentially infinite, Dr Boysie Day, plant pathologist of the University of California at Riverside, opines that by the turn of the third millennium a large portion of the world will be confronted by severe periodic famine while the US lives in temporary plenty.

Poverty is not the only cause of undernourishment. Economic affluence is by no means a guarantee that one’s nutritional needs will be met adequately. Strange as it may seem, most Americans today are overfed but undernourished.

Because of the imbalance in food production and misdistribution of food supply, it is often said that ½ of the world goes to bed on a hungry stomach, while the other half suffers indigestion due to overeating. The rich must live more simply so that the poor may simply live.

Teenagers in particular are among the most undernourished segment of the population. Although they have money with which to buy food, they buy mostly junk foods-potato chips, pizzas, chocolate cakes, banana splits, French fries, hamburgers, sloppy joes, soda pops. Very often they miss their morning meal, because they think that breakfast is only for birds.