04 December 2013
Residents of an urban community, which has no grocery store offering a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, have much higher rates of diabetes and hypertension, reports a new US study.
The study examined the potential health impact of having no full-service grocery store, selling fresh, healthy, and affordable food, available in the neighborhood in a low-income US community (1). The community had 11 convenience stores of which only one sold (relatively expensive) fresh fruits and vegetables. Traveling to the closest full-service grocery stores took 30 to 45 minutes each way. The study results showed that the residents of the community had much higher rates of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and strokes, and had a higher hospitalization rate and more frequent visits to the emergency room, compared to other county residents. The residents demonstrated a need not only for a grocery store, but for nutritional education about healthy food, particularly for men who tended to purchase fewer healthy foods than women.
The researchers commented that living in a “food desert” with a lack of access to fresh, healthy vitamin-rich food can contribute to a poor diet and can lead to higher levels of diet-related chronic diseases. The US gov- ernment defines a “food desert” as a census tract with a substantial share of residents who live in low-inco- me areas that have low levels of access to a grocery store or a healthy, affordable food retail outlet. Accord- ing to a report prepared for Congress by the Economic Research Service of the US Department of Agricult- ure, about 2.3 million people (or 2.2% of all US households) live more than one mile away from a super- market and do not own a car (2). Food deserts have also been identified in many European urban and rural areas (3).
1 August 2011
At a recent conference 13 experts from different areas, including basic science, medicine and epidemiology, came together to define the term ‘evidence-based nutrition’ as it relates to the substantiation of health claims.
7 August 2017
14 January 2013
Children who eat meals together with parents or older siblings, even if only once or twice a week, consume more fruit and vegetables, suggests a new UK study.
