Nutrition Worst for Rural Poor, Study Reports

WASHINGTON — The nutritional health of poor, rural Americans has deteriorated in recent years and they are now worse off than the urban poor, a new study reported Tuesday.

“They are underfed, undernourished and in poor health,” according to the yearlong study financed by the Ford Foundation and conducted by Public Voice for Food and Health Policy, a consumer activist group.

Other recent hunger studies have focused on the urban poor and soup kitchens, church pantries and emergency food centers in cities. Yet the rural poor outnumber the urban poor by about 600,000, according to the most recent figures available.

The study said the rural poor consumed less of 11 of 13 key nutrients than other poor Americans and were 65% more likely to consume inadequate diets than all other Americans.

Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.), chairman of the Senate nutrition subcommittee, promised hearings into the matter.

The study results may indicate a need for Congress to take a new look at efforts by state social service agencies to find and help the rural poor, Dole said at a news conference. Such outreach efforts now are voluntary.

No more than 8% of rural poor residents live on farms, and Ellen Haas, executive director of Public Voice, said the farm crisis did not cause the hunger disparity “but it has and will exacerbate the problem.”

The study examined five indicators of nutritional status: diet, biochemical tests, body measurements, low birth weight and infant mortality rates and participation in government assistance programs.

Project director Jeffrey Shotland found the number of rural poor not receiving food stamps rose by one-third, from 5.67 million in 1979 to 7.5 million--or 57% of the rural poor--by 1983.

The number of rural poor children not served by free or reduced-price school lunch programs rose by 53%. Similar disparities occurred in basic welfare programs.