"In 2006 the U.S. government replaced “hunger” with the term “food insecure” to describe any household where, sometime during the previous year, people didn’t h

"In 2006 the U.S. government replaced “hunger” with the term “food insecure” to describe any household where, sometime during the previous year, people didn’t have enough food to eat. By whatever name, the number of people going hungry has grown dramatically in the U.S., increasing to 48 million by 2012... " There are lots of people in the US in terrible situations, and we should try to help them, but that does not give reporters a license to make up facts. "Food insecurity" does not mean that people are going hungry. It means people who are "at risk of" going hungry, a much broader group. From the Texas Food Bank Network (http://tfbn.org/food-insecurity/ http://tfbn.org/food-insecurity/): "What does “food insecure” NOT mean? Food insecurity is not “the government’s definition of hunger.” It is a broader term that captures outright hunger and the coping mechanisms that households use to avoid hunger. Food insecurity is a household situation, not an individual situation. While food insecurity affects everyone in a household, it may affect them differently. Therefore it is not correct to state that specific individuals in a food insecure household (such as children) definitely experience outright hunger or specific coping mechanisms. Rather than describing these individuals as being “food insecure”, they should be referred to as “living in a food insecure home.” Food insecurity is a year-long measure. Therefore, it is not correct to assert that every food insecure household is experiencing food insecurity “right now,” will experience hunger “tonight” or “does not know where their next meal is coming from.” Research shows that food insecurity tends to be episodic and often cyclical. Food insecurity does not mean that a household lacks access to grocery stores, lives in a “food desert,” or does not have time to shop/cook. It only refers to lack of food access based on financial and other material resources." A much better, but less pageview-generating, term for the problem a large number of Americans face is "malnutrition". If you are malnourished, you may not be going hungry (and may actually be overweight), but still don't get the nutrients you need to be healthy.