Into the mouths of babes

Low-income mothers routinely sacrifice their own nutritional needs to ensure their children have enough to eat, Dr. Lynn McIntyre and colleagues report.

The authors surveyed 141 low-income single mothers with at least 2 children under age 14, all living in Atlantic Canada. They asked the women to report their own and their children's food intake each week for 1 month. The mothers also completed a questionnaire regarding their lack of access to nutritious food. The authors report 78% of the women reported "food insecurity" during the study month, and the mothers' dietary intakes were consistently poorer than those of their children.

In a related commentary, Valeri Tarasuk decries the "disturbing portrait" painted by the study and urges governments to reform policies so that the incomes of people who rely on welfare payments are not so low as to jeopardize the nutritional health of those Canadians who need them.

p. 686 Do low-income lone mothers compromise their nutrition to feed their children?
-- L. McIntyre et al

p. 709 Low income, welfare and nutritional vulnerability -- V. Tarasuk

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