Dietary Inadequacies Among US Homeless Families: An Enduring Problem

We reviewed the literature on eating patterns, prevalent diet-related illnesses, barriers to healthy eating, and interventions to improve diet among the U.S. homeless family population. Our search returned 17 articles and one literature review. We found that families experiencing homelessness tend to have poor diets, lacking healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables, but high in intake of unhealthy sugars and fats. Barriers to healthy eating included lack of access to cooking and storage resources in the shelter environment, the high cost of healthy foods, and little access to healthy eating options. Interventions to address dietary inadequacies were limited to nutrition education programs, and did not show any significant change in eating behaviors. With the recent increase in family homelessness in several states, namely in the sheltered homeless family population, we propose a need for greater research and interventions that address structural barriers to healthy eating for this underserved population.