A new study finds a growing number of American children end up on food stamps and that the recession is making things even worse.

An analysis of three decades-worth of national data finds that nearly half of all U.S. children will be on food stamps and 90 percent of black children at some point during their childhood.

The report's lead author says. "Your neighbor may be using some of these programs but it's not the kind of thing people want to talk about." Sociologist Mark Rank calls the problem "a real danger sign that we as a society need to do a lot more to protect children."

A Department of Agriculture report released last month says more than 28 million Americans received food stamps in an average month last year, and about half were younger than age 18.

The new analysis is in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.