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Handbook of Famine, Starvation, and Nutrient Deprivation pp 427–448Cite as

Nutrition Status of Those Receiving Unprepared Food from Food Banks: Overview of Food Bank Users in High-Income Countries and Their Diet

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Abstract

Across all countries, the number of food bank users in high-income countries has increased considerably over the years. More and more people appear to depend on the distribution of food donations. Besides being considered economically disadvantaged, the group of food bank users can be described as diverse in terms of educational background, age, gender, and ethnicity. However, mental or physical disabilities, job loss or working poor, living in a large household, an increase in housing costs, living in a nonmetropolitan area, and/or food insecurity are all main reasons for using food banks. While the types of foods offered by food banks vary substantially across countries, the energy of the provided food seems to meet or exceed nutritional guidelines. Nevertheless, often the provided foods lack vitamins and minerals and despite the small number of existing studies, it seems that food bank users do not consume milk and milk products, fruits, and vegetables in sufficient amounts. In the future, the dietary needs of people in need should be considered without jeopardizing the amount of donated food.

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Abbreviations

FEBA:

European Federation of Food Banks

GFBN:

Global Food Banking Network

U.S.:

United States

USA:

United States of America

UK:

United Kingdom

WHO:

World Health Organization

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutritional Psychology, Institute of Nutritional Medicine, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany

    Nanette Stroebele-Benschop, Anja Simmet & Julia Depa

Authors
  1. Nanette Stroebele-Benschop
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  2. Anja Simmet
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  3. Julia Depa
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Correspondence to Nanette Stroebele-Benschop .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Diabetes and Nutritional Sciences Research Division, Faculty of Life Science and Medicine, King’s College London, London, UK

    Victor R. Preedy

  2. School of Life Sciences, University of Westminster, London, UK

    Vinood B. Patel

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Stroebele-Benschop, N., Simmet, A., Depa, J. (2019). Nutrition Status of Those Receiving Unprepared Food from Food Banks: Overview of Food Bank Users in High-Income Countries and Their Diet. In: Preedy, V., Patel, V. (eds) Handbook of Famine, Starvation, and Nutrient Deprivation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55387-0_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55387-0_10

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