Redefining Food Insecurity: Let's Talk Health | Diana Cuy Castellanos | TEDxDaytonSalon

[medicalethics]

Diana Cuy Castellanos did a wonderful job highlighting many of the various facets of food insecurity, as well as potential solutions. Roughly 13% of the US population has food insecurity and 75% of the population does not consume adequate fresh fruits and vegetables. While food insecurity is no doubt an issue, the issue does not end at just the quantity of food access but also includes the quality of the food access.

Diana described the stark contrast of food access and quality in developing countries compared to the United States. During her travels, she was shocked by the abundance of homegrown food, small fresh food markets, and contrasts in diet compared to that of America. People have more knowledge about self sufficiency and sharing resources with their neighbors. They have the skills to use the land around them to provide for themselves and focus on local agriculture economy with small markets scattered everywhere to allow easy access to high quality, nutritious food.

In the United States, food insecurity is a very different issue and encompasses the issues of insufficient food quantity and quality. Given that a highly refined diet and malnutrition are linked with a plethora of chronic diseases, this is an important but often not well-addressed ethical dilemma in healthcare. Chronic disease is responsible for an unimaginable cost and burden to the patient. While not all chronic diseases are preventable, the course of many can be altered when approached with a highly nutritious diet, regular exercise, and mental health support.

This video makes me think of the ethical principle of distributive justice. For those unfamiliar with the term, distributive justice is the idea that we should promote fairness in what people receive. When considering food insecurity and unequal access to appropriate quantity of high-quality nutrition, it is important to consider the repercussions this social issue has on the health of those affected. There are many factors that can create food insecurity, from financial barriers to geographic barriers. There are also many agricultural practices and food industry propaganda that lead to a plethora of food, but food that has low nutritional benefit.

Diana proposes many strategies to help combat these food insecurities – both of quantity and quality. She stresses the importance of the consumer changing the culture. She suggests the consumer should act as a role model and change what type of food they bring to events, schools, the workplace, and social gatherings. She suggests the consumer should use their financial power to purchase foods with higher nutritional quality, such as fruits and vegetables, to help increase the natural demand and availability for these foods in our markets. She also suggests supporting local agriculture by joining a CSA or learning to garden. All of these are excellent strategies to attack the issue of food insecurity from a variety of angles, and ultimately to help promote distributive justice in this realm. These actions would then percolate into the healthcare realm as well, promoting better health for all.