BY ALFRED LUBRANO

For the first time in recent memory, a Philadelphia mayor is taking an active interest in combatting hunger, advocates said yesterday at a panel discussion about hunger as a public-health issue.

Although Mayor Nutter alone cannot end hunger in the city, his interest is an important first step, said the panelists, many of them longtime veterans of an endless fight.

"What the city is doing is providing political will to deal with hunger," said Mariana Chilton, a hunger expert and professor in the Drexel University School of Public Health, where she and the other panelists met. "This mayor is addressing hunger, and we never had that before."

Several members of the panel are part of the Mayor's Task Force on Hunger, which has been meeting in recent months. Yesterday's discussion coincided with National Public Health Week.

The focus of this growing attention is on the more than 200,000 Philadelphia children living in high poverty areas, an "astronomically high" number, according to Chilton.

They are "food insecure," a scientific term meaning they don't have enough food for an active and healthy lifestyle.

This is an issue of public health because such children suffer from stunted physical and cognitive development, stomachaches, and headaches, Chilton said. These children are often aggressive, with high anxiety and less capacity to learn, she added.

The number of families in Philadelphia that reported having to cut back on meals in the last year increased 28 percent from 2006 to August 2008, advocates said.

In the city, food insecurity often accompanies unstable housing and heating situations, a "recipe for landing children in the hospital," Chilton said.

Bill Clark, director of Philabundance, told the panel that food stamps were the "biggest club in the arsenal" against hunger, and he lauded the Obama administration's increase in funding for the project.

He added that emergency food cupboards were not the answer to alleviate hunger, especially now that demand is growing ever greater.

Diane Louckes, facilitator for the mayor's task force, praised the collaboration by the city, academics, and nonprofits in battling hunger.

By meeting to discuss hunger, she said, the task force will "put a light on it."

The city is looking to create a unified information system that people can call to learn how to get help in food emergencies, said Nan Feyler, chief of staff of the city's Department of Public Health.

"This mayor is going out of his way to be responsive," said Carey Morgan, director of the Coalition Against Hunger.