Disparities in the availability of fruits and vegetables between racially segregated urban neighbourhoods

Abstract

Objective: Public health professionals continue to see the benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption on population health. While studies that evaluate the availability of produce are sparse in the medical literature, disparities in availability may explain the disproportional intake of produce for some people. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the availability and variety of produce located in two racially and economically diverse urban neighbourhoods. Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted in which 50% of the supermarkets, small grocery stores, delicatessens, and fruit and vegetable markets located in specific neighbourhoods were randomly sampled and surveyed between September 2004 and July 2005. Food stores were evaluated for the availability of 20 types of fresh fruits and 19 types of fresh vegetables, as well as their varieties and whether they were canned, frozen or previously prepared. 2000 US Census information was used to determine characteristics of the geo-coded census tracts where the food stores were located. Setting: Brooklyn, New York. Results: A supermarket was located in approximately every third census tract in predominantly white areas (prevalence 5 0.33) and every fourth census tract in racially mixed areas (prevalence 5 0.27). There were no supermarkets located in the predominantly black areas. With the exception of bananas, potatoes, okra and yucca, a lower proportion of predominantly black area stores carried fresh produce, while supermarkets carried the largest variety of produce types. Canned and frozen fruits and vegetables were found in the majority of stores, whereas prepared and organic produce was limited to predominantly white area stores.Conclusions: These data demonstrate that the availability and variety of fresh produce is associated with neighbourhood racial composition and may be a factor contributing to differences in intake among residents.

Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status in Relation to Serum Biomarkers in the Black Women’s Health Study

“…54 Levels of air pollution also tend to be higher in poor compared to wealthier neighborhoods, 56 and poor neighborhoods lack safe and accessible places to walk and exercise, as well as sources of healthy foods. [57][58][59][60] A higher prevalence of poor health behaviors in disadvantaged neighborhoods has been hypothesized to account for variation in CVD risk factors by neighborhood SES. However, in the present study and others, [4][5][6]10 a deleterious effect of low neighborhood SES persisted after control for various personal factors (e.g., physical activity and smoking), but we were unable to control for many factors associated with neighborhood, e.g., sources of healthy foods and air pollution.…”

Supermarket and fast-food outlet exposure in Copenhagen: associations with socio-economic and demographic characteristics

“…However, a reduction from 400 to sixty-seven analytical units resulted in too few samples per cell. We selected socio-economic variables according to population characteristics demonstrated in the literature to be especially vulnerable to having poor access to healthy food (27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(34)(35)(36)40) . Low education was defined by the percentage of 16-to 85-year-olds in each neighbourhood lacking a high-school diploma.…”

Access to Healthful Foods among an Urban Food Insecure Population: Perceptions versus Reality

“…Observations are used to both "ground truth" existing commercial databases and assess the types and quality of foods sold inside the stores. 2,[21][22][23][24] Both of these methods provide an assessment of physical access to food stores by highlighting whether or not a food store is present in a community. The presence of a food store, however, does not necessarily translate into enhanced perceptions of food access, especially if the quality of the food in the store is less than ideal.…”