The Availability and Cost of Healthier Food Alternatives

Jetter, Karen M.; Cassady, Diana L

doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2005.08.039

Cited by 389 publications

(284 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…This pattern of food store access in a low-income, minority, urban context corroborates prior research. 2,[9][10][11][12][13][14] Across the different store types, supermarkets offered the greatest access to healthful foods whereas local markets and convenience stores offered the least access. For example, 70% of the stores in the three target communities were convenience stores, yet 70% of these convenience stores did not sell any fresh fruits or vegetables.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…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.…”

Section: Perceptions Of Healthful Food Accessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2 The obesity epidemic has, in turn, widened the aims of prevention research to include the influence of local food environments on health outcomes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A market basket survey that examined the costs of several basic grocery items found that nonchain grocery stores, which are most common in low-income and racial and ethnic minority communities, were much less likely to sell "healthier" food alternatives (e.g., whole wheat bread, skinless chicken) compared to chain supermarkets. 2 Nonchain food stores including convenience and small and midsized grocery stores are up to two times less likely to sell all varieties of fresh fruits and vegetables compared to chain supermarkets. 10 Moreover, foods sold in convenience or nonchain grocery stores are typically more expensive (i.e., have a higher price tag) than the same product in a chain supermarket.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Freedman

Bell

2009

J Urban Health

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The influence of local food environments on the risk for obesity is important overall, but may be particularly important for food insecure populations in urban settings. Access to healthful foods is most limited among racial and ethnic minorities and low-income populations; these same populations experience the highest rates of obesity and food insecurity. Few valid and reliable measures have been developed to assess the quality of local food environments. This research addresses this gap by introducing an inventory for measuring self-reported perceptions of food access and then compares the perceptions measure to objective assessments of local food environments. Data are focused on an urban population experiencing disproportionate rates of food insecurity. The four-item perceptions of food access inventory had high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=0.80). Participants' perceptions of access to healthful foods mirrored the reality of their food environment; however, perceptions of access to alcohol and tobacco were less accurate. Findings suggest that people living in low-income, urban, minority, and food insecure communities can validly assess (in)access to healthful foods. Future research is needed to further validate the perceptions of food access measure introduced and, more importantly, to develop strategies for increasing access to healthful foods in food insecure contexts.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Perceptions Of Healthful Food Accessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2 The obesity epidemic has, in turn, widened the aims of prevention research to include the influence of local food environments on health outcomes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Freedman

Bell

2009

J Urban Health

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“…In addition, among adults, price is second only to taste as a consideration in making food choices (2). Although research has demonstrated higher prices for more healthful foods than for less healthful foods in grocery stores (3,4), it is not known whether more healthful entrées on restaurant children’s menus are more expensive than less healthful entrées.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No Financial Disincentive for Choosing More Healthful Entrées on Children’s Menus in Full-Service Restaurants

Krukowski¹,

West²

2013

Prev. Chronic Dis.

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Children are eating restaurant foods more than ever before, and price is among the top considerations for food choices. We categorized and enumerated entrées on children’s menus from 75 full-service restaurant chains to compare prices of more healthful and less healthful entrées to test the assumption that more healthful food is more expensive. The mean (standard deviation) price of more healthful entrées ($5.38 [$2.01]) was not significantly different from the price of less healthful entrées ($5.27 [$2.04]). In contrast to research demonstrating that more healthful foods tend to be more expensive in grocery stores, more healthful entrées on children’s menus in restaurants were not more expensive than less healthful entrées.

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Fast Food Restaurants and Food Stores

et al. 2011

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Background A growing body of cross-sectional, small-sample research has led to policy strategies to reduce food deserts – neighborhoods with little or no access to healthy foods – by limiting fast food restaurants and small food stores and increasing access to supermarkets in low-income neighborhoods. Methods We used 15 years of longitudinal data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, a cohort of U.S. young adults (n=5,115, 18–30 years at baseline), with linked time-varying geographic information system-derived food resource measures. Using repeated measures from four examination periods (n=15,854 person-exam observations) and conditional regression (conditioned on the individual), we modeled fast food consumption, diet quality, and meeting fruit and vegetable recommendations as a function of fast food chain, supermarket, or grocery store availability (counts per population) within 1 kilometer (km), 1–2.9km, 3–4.9km, and 5–8km of respondents’ homes. Models were sex-stratified, controlled for individual sociodemographics and neighborhood poverty, and tested for interaction by individual-level income. Results Fast food consumption was related to fast food availability in low-income respondents, particularly within 1–2.9km of homes among men [coefficient (95% CI) up to: 0.34 (0.16, 0.51)]. Greater supermarket availability was generally unrelated to diet quality and fruit and vegetable intake and relationships between grocery store availability and diet outcomes were mixed. Conclusions Our findings provide some evidence for zoning restrictions on fast food restaurants within 3km of low-income residents, but suggest that increased access to food stores may require complementary or alternative strategies to promote dietary behavior change.

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The Availability and Cost of Healthier Food Alternatives

Cited by 389 publications

References 8 publications

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

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

No Financial Disincentive for Choosing More Healthful Entrées on Children’s Menus in Full-Service Restaurants

Fast Food Restaurants and Food Stores

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