Today's guest post is written by David Lee, the Director of Government Relations and Advocacy at Feeding America, the nation's largest anti-hunger charity. We are featuring his article in two parts- be sure to check back tomorrow to read the rest and comment on the issue of hunger and our nations federal nutrition programs.

It’s no surprise that from the beginning of time, wherever people could grow, cultivate, and share food, great civilizations began.  Food and access to food are the bases of bright, healthy, functioning societies.  Unfortunately today, for nearly 50 million Americans who are hungry and food insecure, access to an adequate diet is not a daily assurance.  That’s 1 in 6 Americans and in the world’s most prosperous country, that mere fact is a moral outrage.

And yet, with all of the righteous arguments for ending hunger in America, the problem just continues to grow.   What’s it going to take for our nation to begin to seriously address the issue?  With a large portion of Americans worried about the lagging economy, exploding healthcare costs, and continued American competitiveness in the workplace, perhaps a shift in focus from the morality of hunger relief to the economics of hunger relief is needed to reframe the debate and engage new, powerful partners in the fight.

Put simply, hunger is a drag on the economy that costs our society in a myriad of ways.

When children are hungry, they can’t learn in school.  They are also more disruptive, which makes it more difficult for other children to learn.  Hungry children also suffer more health problems and have developmental challenges, which last a lifetime.  They have lower reading and math test scores, making them less competitive in an increasingly technical and global workforce.  With 1 in 4 children food insecure, take a moment and imagine what our future workforce will look like.

When parents are hungry, they are more stressed and less productive in the workplace, often making simple mistakes, which can range from innocuous (not attaching a file to an email) to costly (a mistake in coding a shipping label) to tragic (a workplace accident).  People who are hungry also miss more work due to sickness, or given that many low-income people cannot miss work, they struggle to go to work and get others sick, lowering overall productivity.

Speaking of which, don’t get me started on healthcare costs.  Adequate nutrition is a fundamental building block of good health.  In fact, people who suffer from food insecurity are 3 times more likely to have poor health status, including 1.3 times more hospitalizations and longer inpatient stays.

Since low-income families are more likely to be both food insecure and to be also enrolled in publicly funded health benefits – or completely uninsured and more likely to have visits to the emergency room – poor nutrition is both a predictor of poor health outcomes and also a driver of healthcare costs.  Data from the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Medical Expenditures shows that on average, poor health status costs about $10,000 annually.

These are all costs we pay collectively as a nation.  According to the Center for American Progress, America’s hunger bill is $167.5 billion in 2010, costing every single American at least $542.  This is a preventable cost.  We have the people power and resources to end hunger as a nation.  If we do, we can save this money and also help local businesses thrive by simply doing the humanitarian thing to ensure that everybody has enough to eat.  By definition, hunger relief does good by doing well.  Tune in tomorrow to find out how.

Tomorrow we will feature the rest of the article that will look more into the benefit of federal nutrition programs.