A new study found that nearly half of the U. S. children and 90 percent of black youngsters will be on food stamp at some point during their childhood and the recent recession could push those numbers even higher as per the researchers.

Author Mark Rank of Washington University in St. Louis says that one in five children depend on food stamps for years but many more families resort to food stamps during a short-term crisis.

He analyzed 30 years of data from the University of Michigan's Panel Study of Income Dynamics survey.

He says, "This is what children can expect over a period of time, not just during a recession, it shows that the period of childhood, rather than a period of safety and security, is really a time, for a lot of kids, of economic turmoil and risk."

He adds that his study figures may be underestimating the actual number of families struggling with grocery bills.

As per the Department of Agriculture only about 67 percent of people who are eligible for food stamps actually receive them.

James Weill of the advocacy group Food Research and Action Center, who wasn't involved in the new study said that nutritional programs, officially known as the USDA's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, improves the health of children and helps them do better in school.

Weill's group reported that more than 35.8 million Americans used food stamps in July. It is 6.8 million more than the last year.

He also adds that people do not like to talk about their poverty at any point in their lives and hide from their neighbors that they were on food stamps 10 years ago. He says that a large pool of people is living close to poverty at any given time.