One in ten pregnant Australians are going hungry and facing food insecurity, new research shows

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Thousands of pregnant women in Australia can’t afford food needed to keep themselves and their unborn children healthy. That's the conclusion of a University of Queensland study which found expectant mothers were regularly going hungry.

Transcript

00:00Tiny clothes, cots and car seats.

00:06Welcoming a newborn is expensive.

00:09And for struggling mothers, Adelaide Charity Treasure Boxes provides essential supplies.

00:13Compared to this time last year, we've had a 49% increase in the number of families coming

00:17to us for support.

00:18And these are families who have a mortgage and possibly have two stable jobs.

00:23New research from the Queensland University of Technology has revealed just how difficult

00:28life has become for expecting mothers.

00:30We surveyed 1,500 women across Australia while they were pregnant about their diet and the

00:35most alarming thing that emerged was that one in ten pregnant women are actually going

00:39hungry.

00:40The research also found two in five expecting mothers are worrying about food, changing

00:45the quality of their diet or eating less, with none of the participants getting their

00:50recommended nutrients.

00:52It's linked to poor outcomes for children and can even be linked to chronic disease

00:56in later life.

00:58So if we don't do something now, then we're actually setting a whole generation of children

01:02up for poor health outcomes.

01:04Many of the expecting mothers going hungry had never accessed food relief programs or

01:09food banks.

01:10Charities warn many don't know how to find help, while others are too ashamed or too

01:15scared to ask.

01:17There's also a bit of a fear that if they access some of those services and they're

01:22acknowledging going hungry and their children might be going hungry, children in the household

01:26might be removed.

01:27Professor Gallegos says Australia could learn from government programs in the US and the

01:31UK that supply nutritious food and supplements to pregnant women.

01:35In the meantime, she says there shouldn't be any shame in asking for help.

01:39But if women are actually experiencing hunger or finding it difficult to put food on the

01:43table, they need to reach out as soon as possible.

01:46The longer you go without food, the more risk it is to themselves and to their babies.

01:51The innocent victims of a cost of living crisis.

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