(5.7 percent of all U.S. 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 couldn't afford enough food. Children in most food-insecure households even in most households with very low food security were protected from reductions in food intake. However in about 506,000 households (1.3 percent of households with children), one or more children were also subject to reduced food intake and disrupted eating patterns at some time during the year (table 1B). In some households with very low food security among children, only older children may have been subjected to the more severe effects of food insecurity, while younger children were protected from those effects.