Interventions to improve access to fresh food in vulnerable communities: a review of the literature

Abstract

Background: "Food desert" is a term used to describe lowincome communities without access to healthy, fresh food within a one-mile radius of their residence. The limited access to healthy foods in urban African-American communities may be a critical factor in the development of nutritional disorders and associated chronic disease in this vulnerable population. Research has shown that community gardens are a promising intervention for addressing food quality and access issues. This study aimed to assess whether improving the local food environment through community gardens can increase accessibility to healthy foods in Metropolitan Atlanta communities assumed to be food deserts. Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted to identify best practices of community garden projects in order to address food deserts in metropolitan cities. Next, a windshield survey was conducted in the Adamsville community in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia to determine if a food desert was present, and to provide an analysis of the local food environment. Results: Twenty-nine articles were reviewed and eight best practices were identified as effective strategies in metropolitan cities. We found that community gardens had only minimal impact on food access issues in urban communities due to seasonal accessibility and low yield. The windshield survey revealed that the Adamsville community was not a food desert because it had access to healthy foods within a half-mile radius. Conclusion: While the literature review revealed that community gardens had a minimal impact on food access in urban communities, food policy advocacy and supermarket tax incentives were identified as effective ways to promote healthy community development.

Community gardens and their effects on diet, health, psychosocial and community outcomes: a systematic review

“…Nutrition and food security were the most commonly studied outcome (9/13 (69%)). The earliest systematic reviews indicated that various forms of community gardening had potential to improve fruit and vegetable intake and food security [16] although this view was not uniform with some suggesting gardens had little impact on food access [17]. Many systematic reviews agreed upon the poor quality of evidence [11,12,16,18].…”

Cross-Sectional Association of Food Source with Food Insecurity, Dietary Diversity and Body Mass Index in Western Kenya

“…However, such an intervention may have limited value in urban areas due to complications surrounding land pressures, hygiene, disease spread and environmental pollution [ 49 , 50 ]. Related to this are the existing interventions that give households or communities the resources to grow their own food in local gardens [ 51 , 52 ]. In this study, no association was found between growing food and household food insecurity, individual dietary diversity, or individual BMI.…”

Exploring twitter discussions on healthy food: inspiring, access to healthy food for young, and nutritional economics in focus

“…Communities must concentrate on nutritional food to reduce food insecurity and enhance access to fresh food in vulnerable communities (Smith et al, 2013). At the state or national level, strategies include taxes on unhealthy foods, subsidies on healthy foods, and exemptions of healthy foods from certain taxes (Lee et al, 2016).…”