Beyond empty plates: Childhood hunger is a traumatic experience

Every minute in 2024, 35 children were born into hunger—18.2 million children in total. This number, more than double the population of New York City, represents children born into a life that will be immediately threatened by food insecurity. 

But empty plates don’t just affect a child’s physical health. Prolonged hunger is a traumatic experience that changes a child’s developing brain and affects the trajectory of their lifelong health. 

Hunger as an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) 

Childhood hunger is considered an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE), a traumatic event that occurs before a child turns 18. 

ACEs are categorized into three main groups: abuse, neglect and household dysfunction.   

Examples of ACEs include:  

— Experiencing physical, sexual or emotional abuse  

— Experiencing physical or emotional neglect  

— Witnessing substance use at home  

— Loss of a friend or family member  

— Separation from parental figures (ex. divorce, incarceration, death, abandonment)  

— Experiencing homelessness or moving frequently  

— Food insecurity  

— Lack of access to health care  

— Witnessing violence in the community or country  

Children facing hunger typically experience multiple ACEs simultaneously—poverty, housing instability and inadequate health care, compounding their trauma. 

Learn more about the global health crisis of childhood trauma.   

But how is hunger considered a traumatic experience? The answer: food insecurity transforms a child’s developing brain. 

How hunger rewires the brain 

When a child experiences persistent hunger, their body enters survival mode. 

This triggers toxic stress, the prolonged or repeated activation of the body’s stress response system. Unlike normal stress, which can help children develop problem-solving skills and build resilience, toxic stress disrupts healthy brain and body development and leads to lifelong health problems by: 

• Interrupting neural connections essential to language, attention, decision-making, memory and other executive functions  

• Increasing risks of chronic illnesses, healthy weight challenges and weak immune systems 

• Increasing the risk of anxiety, depression, hypervigilance and other mental health challenges 

The science is clear: going hungry changes a child’s brain chemistry and sets them on a course of lasting health challenges. 

Learn the science-backed solution to healing from ACEs—love. 

Help end childhood hunger this year  

Going hungry is traumatic. No child should go to bed with an empty, aching stomach, wondering if there will be food tomorrow. 

Your gift can be the difference between starvation and survival—and so much more for a child in need.  

When you give to SOS Children’s Villages, you’re not just providing nutritious food so a child can grow. You’re:  

— Preventing toxic stress before it damages a child's developing brain  

— Restoring hope to children who lived with toxic stress and hunger  

— Helping break cycles of poverty that often lead to child malnutrition  

— Giving children the fuel they need to learn, grow and reach their full potential 

Every meal matters for a child’s physical and mental health—and their future.  

Will you help end childhood hunger in 2026?  

Together, we can turn hunger into hope—and trauma into transformative healing. 

Support this work