Food Deserts And Its Effects On Unhealthy Food

Food deserts are places where healthy foods are not produced nor sold. Unfortunately, Chicago is filled with food deserts. Approximately 600,000 people reside in areas that consist of food deserts (Gallagher, 2006). Nearly 200,000 of those people are children. These children do not have the opportunity for healthier options, which shows an increase in obesity rates (News One Staff, 2011). There are 77 Chicago communities and out of that 77, 23 are food deserts (Gallagher, 2006). Chicagoans-particularly the black communities- are forced to live off the accessible food that is near them. The food deserts are in Austin, North Lawndale, Armour Square, Near South Side, Fuller Park, Grand Boulevard, Washington Park, Woodlawn, West Lawn, Chicago Lawn, Englewood, Ashburn,

If there are any grocery stores are available in lower income areas, most of the people can’t afford the healthier, more expensive foods in the grocery store. They settle for cheaper, but filling, foods. Food deserts are also known for having more fast food restaurants available for the community. Fast food restaurants are built in bulk in lower income areas because more lower income families use them. “Low-income youth and adults are exposed to disproportionately more marketing and advertising for obesity-promoting products” (Food Research and Action Center). Since the fast food restaurant is quicker and easier to get to, and cheaper, it seems to be the better for many families.

A food desert is an area with low income that is mostly filled with unhealthy foods that can be found in fast food restaurants and local convenience stores. Since the area is already penurious or poverty stricken it causes healthy foods with the nutrients that the human body needs to be unavailable. People tend buy the foods that they can afford, which is usually the lower priced unhealthy foods. The foods they eat can be the source of being overweight which can lead to obesity or other health related diseases. It is stated in “Food deserts, Hunger, and Obesity” by Asha Brundage--Moore that in low income states they are not much grocery stores. This is what causes more of a correlation between poverty and obesity, the location plays a major role in the two. Food deserts can associate obesity with poverty due to the location’s

Those residing in food desert communities are left with a small hand full of options when they do not have a car of their own. They have no choice but to use private cars, such as taxis, or to travel several miles on foot, or use public transit to get to healthful food stores. People without cars become dependent on food sources in their nearest proximity. In rural urban food desert areas, the distance to healthful, nutritious food access is near impossible on foot. According to a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, approximately 2.4 million families in the United States are more than a mile from a grocery store and do not have access to a vehicle. The physical distance from full service grocery stores leaves people in these food deserts to be more likely to purchase food

“Food deserts,” areas characterized by relatively poor access to healthy and affordable food, may contribute to social disparities in diet and diet-related health outcomes, such as cardiovascular disease and obesity (Beaulac, Kristjansson, Cummins, 2009). The term “food desert” reportedly originated in Scotland in the early 1990s and was used to describe poor access to an affordable and healthy diet (Beaulac, Kristjansson, Cummins, 2009). Although the term “food desert” can mean a literal absence of retail food in a defined area, studies of food deserts more commonly assess differential accessibility to healthy and affordable food between socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged areas. (Beaulac, Kristjansson, Cummins, 2009). In other words, food deserts can simultaneously be “food swamps,” areas consisting in a saturation of access to unhealthy food (e.g., fast-food, convenience stores) and nonfood (e.g., gas stations) venues, characterized by calorie-dense, high-sugar foods (Brown & Brewster, 2015). As such, people living in these areas are at a clear disadvantage to how they obtain food.

“The food desert concept suggests that the absence of major food outlets in inner-city neighborhoods prohibits consumption of healthy food, thus highlighting geography as a key constraint in food access.” (Kato and McKinney 216) It is unfair that low-income families are targeted by food deserts but it is how society is formed. Most food markets are found located in low-income African American communities. This was the vocal research points in Naa Oyo Kwate’s “Fried chicken and fresh apples: Racial segregation as a fundamental cause of fast food density in black neighborhoods” “In the US, predominantly Black neighborhoods often embody the characteristics of food deserts, where ‘it is easier to get fried chicken than a fresh apple’.” (Kwate 34) The placement of fast food restaurants in comparison to healthy food places is unfair and forces low-income family to consume unhealthy foods. It essentially leads to shorter lives and less and less people in the lower social classes. It is almost as if the higher classes plot to make their money and kill off the low-end families. Kato and Kwate revealed the truth behind the locations of food deserts across the United States. Food deserts are more likely to be seen in black and minority

Research shows that government-sponsored programs aiming to expand access to healthy food options and reduce levels of obesity are ineffective. These policies emphasize accessibility in terms of location and proximity but fail to encourage consumption of healthy foods or reduce levels of obesity among low-income families (Copari, 2014). The analysis through policy lens illustrates the government's role and the inability to address the underlying causes of food deserts that result in the policies that disregard equity and focus on promoting equality. In this section, we discuss the government’s efforts to increase accessibility to healthy food options, the political implications of food desert policies, and the government’s efficacy to promote

Food deserts are location that have very little to no access to fresh and nutritious foods. There has been a major jump in the number of area they are classified as a food desert. The Department of Agriculture has mapped out thousands of locations across the country where residents have very limited access to fresh foods. Food deserts are very high in lower income areas. Residents that live in these “are at a greater risk of becoming obese or developing chronic diseases.”

The concept of a Food Desert is not new, “British politicians introduced the idea of food deserts in the mid-1990s… suggested a link might exist between distance to a grocery store and the diets of poor people” (Gilligan, 2014). It took many years before the idea of a Food Desert was recognized in the United States of America but it is now estimated that, “About 23.5 million people live in food deserts” ("11 Facts About Food Deserts | DoSomething.org | Volunteer for Social Change," n.d.). The inability to obtain healthy food choices leads to, “people in low-income communities [suffering] more from diet-related diseases like obesity and diabetes” (Truehaft & Karpyn, 5, n.d.). The existence of these Food Deserts is a factor that works to keep those in poverty down and makes progress even harder for them to

There is growing trend of cities across the United States that do not have access to food such as places in Buffalo, Baltimore, or Detroit. According to the USDA, a food desert is to qualify as a “low-access community,” at least 500 people and/or at least 33 percent of the census tract 's population must reside more than one mile from a supermarket or large grocery store (for rural census tracts, the distance is more than 10 miles). You can even look up a food desert locater on the USDA website and it will provide you areas where it is hard to buy broccoli or carrots in red marked areas. Going to the

Eradicating food deserts has definitely become a significant issue in food and nutrition guidelines and programs across the entire nation. As part of her “Let’s Move! campaign,” Michelle Obama was a huge advocate for this and aimed on eliminating food deserts within seven years in the United States (Corapi). To achieve this goal, accurate definitions and the identification of the numerous food deserts are certainly required. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), food deserts are areas that lack access to affordable fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat milk, and other foods that make up a full and healthy diet (CDC Features). This is largely due to a lack of grocery stores, farmers’ markets, and healthy food

The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) atlas on food deserts shows that most food deserts in California are in highly rural (USDA, 2017). Northern California, the Mojave Desert, and the Imperial Valley all have a high prevalence of food deserts (USDA, 2017). A closer look at the map also shows a significant amount of food deserts in urban areas of highly populated cities. Large portions of neighborhoods in urban areas like Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sacramento are food deserts (USDA, 2017). In this section, we will discuss the socio-economic characteristics of the people living in both types of food

Low-income residents with very little access to healthy food items are commonly known as “food deserts”. Definitions of this term may very but the phrase was first used in 1990 by researchers in the United Kingdom. “Food deserts” became a popular word in the United States by 2003 to describe certain areas of Mississippi that were nowhere near supermarkets. The United States Department of Agriculture recognized “food deserts” as regions with very little access to affordable and nutritious foods, predominantly communities with low incomes. The purpose of the study is to determine problem areas in the Puget Sound region, focusing on transportation and how they aid or interfere with this access. Potential “food deserts” are immediately identified based on transportation ability, low-income residents and health conditions surrounding the area. Limited access to purchase fresh and nutritious food items can lead to poor diets and adverse health effects such as obesity, diabetes and many others. Obesity is a leading health concern with conditions existing between gender, race and economic status. Identifying certain locations with low access to healthy foods can help to develop a strategy to get rid of food deserts. Projected populations in the Puget Sound region are expected to rise another 1.7 million people by the year 2040. With this estimated growth increases the need to act quickly in addressing the problem to combat food deserts now and in the future.

“Food Desert” refers to an area in a rural or even urban region with little or no access to big grocery stores that provides affordable and fresh food for people to have a healthy diet. These areas are mostly composed of low-income households who are often Hispanics and African-Americans (Ploeg and Breneman et al). They are often “trapped” in a geographical location where only small convenient stores, which do not have sufficient supply of all common, fresh and healthy food, are available. Currently, there are 13.6 Million Americans who have difficulties in accessing to super markets and large grocery stores. People living in such areas with limited access to grocery stores spend 19.5 minutes more to travel, comparing to the people living in non-food-desert areas (Ploeg and Breneman et al).

Urban communities have noticeably been bombarded by fast food and non-nutritional food products, which contribute to the neighborhood environment turning into a food desert. In the qualitative study “Growing what you eat: Developing community gardens in Baltimore, Maryland” by Michelle P. Corrigan, the author states that “…obtaining healthy and affordable food sometimes proves difficult, especially for low-income and minority populations who often lack access to automobile and public transportation…” Without the option to choose healthier alternatives, low-income communities are forced to buy