Abstract
To understand the local food environment in a rural American Indian community, we assessed the availability and price of healthy foods offered at all stores (n = 27) within a 90-mile radius of the town center of a large American Indian reservation. Stores were classified by type, and availability and cost of foods were measured using the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey in Stores (January–February 2016). Healthy foods were available at most grocery stores (>97%), although the price of foods varied considerably among stores. Having quantified the availability and cost of food, efforts must focus on understanding other structural and contextual factors that influence diet in this community.
Highlights
Social, economic, and geographic factors influence diet and foodpurchasing patterns, including the low availability and high cost of foods [1,2,3,4,5]
Nutrition Environment Measures Survey in Stores (NEMS-S) is a commonly used instrument to evaluate the food environment and comprises food items needed to adhere to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Thrifty Food Plan (TFP)
All foods were available at the discount supermarket, and on average, 97% of foods were available at the grocery stores (Table 1)
Summary
Economic, and geographic factors influence diet and foodpurchasing patterns, including the low availability and high cost of foods [1,2,3,4,5]. The purpose of this study was to understand the food environment in a large American Indian community in the northcentral United States. The community is classified as a food desert by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service, with 37% to 72% of residents (census tract dependent) living 10 or more miles from a grocery store [6]. Understanding the availability and cost of foods in this community can inform development of culturally appropriate and community-targeted healthy diet programs
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