Welcome  to  public  health  moment from  the  University  of  Minnesota. A  greater  percentage  of  Twin  Cities  families compared  with  families  across  the  state and  the  nation  lack consistent  access  to  healthy,  affordable  food. That's  according  to  new  research from  the  University  of  Minnesota. The  highest  rates  of  what  is  called food  insecurity  were  found  in  women, Asian  Americans  primarily  and other  non  white  racial  groups  and  single  parents. Me,  bring  a  Phd  student  involved  in the  research  explains  why  we  should  be  concerned. What  we  found  is  that  food  insecure  parents, poor  nutritional  outcomes, there's  less  access  to  fruits  and  vegetables. Parents  were  more  likely  to  report  skipping  breakfast  or serving  less  healthy  foods  at meals  that  relates  to  their  overall  health. We  also  found  that  food  insecure  parents  had higher  prevalences  of  overweight  and obesity  compared  to  food  secure  parents. For  this  study,  researchers didn't  look  at  why  the  twin  cities  had higher  rates  of  families lacking  access  to  healthy  and  affordable  food. But  bruning  provides  some  possible  reasons. Well,  there  are  a  lot  more  low income  people  within  the  Twin  Cities. The  Twin  Cities  are  known  for  health  disparities. There  are  employment  disparities  within  the  Twin  Cities. And  that  can  relate  to  how  much income  somebody  has  to  purchase  food. And  oftentimes,  families  have  to  choose between  what's  called  the phenomenon  of  heating  or  eating, whether  or  not  they  heat their  home  or  they  feed  their  family.