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Poor and racially mixed neighborhoods have fewer supermarkets
Large supermarkets, with a payroll of more than 50 employees, are more prevalent in wealthier areas, significant because they tend to have a wide selection of nutritious foods at lower prices. "If you pay attention to the environment, you realize the way the environment conditions your behavior in subtle ways," said Ana Diez Roux, associate professor of epidemiology at the U-M School of Public Health. She is co-author of the study in the February issue of American Journal of Public Health. Diez Roux and Latetia Moore analyzed 2000 U.S. Census data from 75 census tracts in Forsyth County, N.C.; 276 census tracts in the city of Baltimore and Baltimore County, Md.; and 334 census tracts in Manhattan and the Bronx, N.Y., comparing them against information on food establishments purchased from InfoUSA. InfoUSA maintains commercial databases on businesses, which the researchers used to classify about 3,300 grocery stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, meat and fish markets, fruit and vegetable markets, bakeries, natural food stores, specialty food stores and liquor stores. "Health researchers have focused on individual behavior as a risk for disease," Diez Roux said. "We want to understand what features of the environment shape behavior." Other findings of the study: • Natural food stores, fruit and vegetable markets, bakeries and specialty food stores were more common in predominantly white neighborhoods. • 19 percent of stores in predominantly black areas were 2,500 square feet or more, while 42 percent of stores in predominantly white areas were 2,500 square feet or more. • Liquor stores were more common in the poorest than in the wealthiest neighborhoods. Moore said when her grandparents come to visit her home in a small town with a vibrant downtown, they walk to nearby shops and restaurants and eat healthier foods. When they are home in the south, Moore said, where the neighborhood is less walkable and healthier food options are located outside of the neighborhood, they drive everywhere and are less likely to follow a healthier diet. "Change of environment can be a powerful thing," said Moore, a doctoral student in epidemiology. In New York, the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recently began a program encouraging owners of small convenience stores to offer low-fat milk. The program was spurred by a department survey of bodegas in poorer neighborhoods that found the stores represent more than 80 percent of food sources for the neighborhoods, but that healthy food choices are not typically available. Diez Roux said one implication of the supermarket study is that health outreach programs encouraging people to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and to cut down on high-fat foods need to take into account what's available nearby. Moore grew up in Florida in an 80-percent black neighborhood where the nearest big grocery store was about four miles away. It was easier to stop at a store near home, which offered a poor produce selection and more processed foods than leaner, healthier choices. "Of course there are people who will make the right decision no matter what, but I think they're in the minority," Diez Roux said. The researchers note that smaller stores might mean shoppers are more likely to walk instead of drive, since larger stores tend to be located on busy streets with huge parking lots, and shoppers might have more social interactions at smaller stores, as well. Diez Roux and Moore now are looking at the relationship between easily available food and individual diet, to see how much influence the environment has.
Related Links: American Journal of Public Health New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene bodega program
Contact: Colleen Newvine
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ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Predominantly white and wealthy neighborhoods have far more healthy food options than poor minority areas, according to a University of Michigan study.
