Does one in six Americans struggle with hunger?

Question

Feeding America claims, that one in six US Americans struggles with hunger.

• Is that claim true?
• Is the definition of "hunger" they use similar to the one when talking about hunger for example in sub-Saharan Africa?

Answer 1

In a US Department of Agriculture survey for the report Household Food Security in the United States in 2013 , people were asked the following questions (plus additional questions if they had children):

1. “We worried whether our food would run out before we got money to buy more.” Was that often, sometimes, or never true for you in the last 12 months?
2. “The food that we bought just didn’t last and we didn’t have money to get more.” Was that often, sometimes, or never true for you in the last 12 months?
3. “We couldn’t afford to eat balanced meals.” Was that often, sometimes, or never true for you in the last 12 months?
4. In the last 12 months, did you or other adults in the household ever cut the size of your meals or skip meals because there wasn’t enough money for food? (Yes/No)
5. (If yes to question 4) How often did this happen—almost every month, some months but not every month, or in only 1 or 2 months?
6. In the last 12 months, did you ever eat less than you felt you should because there wasn’t enough money for food? (Yes/No)
7. In the last 12 months, were you ever hungry, but didn’t eat, because there wasn’t enough money for food? (Yes/No)
8. In the last 12 months, did you lose weight because there wasn’t enough money for food? (Yes/No)
9. In the last 12 months, did you or other adults in your household ever not eat for a whole day because there wasn’t enough money for food? (Yes/No)
10. (If yes to question 9) How often did this happen—almost every month, some months but not every month, or in only 1 or 2 months?

Based upon answers to the questions:

85.7 percent of U.S. households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2013. In concept, “food secure” means that all household members had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life

The remaining 14.3 percent (17.5 million households) were food insecure at some time during the year. That is, they were, at times, unable to acquire adequate food for one or more household members because they had insufficient money and other resources for food. A majority of food-insecure households avoided substantial reductions or disruptions in food intake, in many cases by relying on a few basic foods and reducing variety in their diets.

5.6 percent (6.8 million households) had very low food security—that is, they were food insecure to the extent that eating patterns of one or more household members were disrupted and their food intake reduced, at least some time during the year, because they could not afford enough food.

Note:

Prior to 2006, households with low food security were described as “food insecure without hunger” and households with very low food security were described as “food insecure with hunger.”

So if the criterion is that one or more persons in ones household had to at least reduce the variety of food they eat, 1 in 7 people struggle with hunger in the USA.

If the stricter criterion that one or more persons in ones household had to actually reduce their food intake, it is more like 1 in 18.