Abstract
BackgroundPrior research has demonstrated minority communities have fewer options to access healthy foods when compared to their majority counterparts. While much focus has been placed upon community-level resources, little research has been placed on the efforts that minority groups need to undergo to reach well-stocked stores to purchase healthy food options.MethodsAs part of the Water, Energy, Food Nexus Research Group at Texas A&M University, a nationally representative survey (n = 1612) was conducted to acquire self-reported distance, time, and motives that certain populations must travel to purchase food for themselves and their families.ResultsFindings suggest that minority populations consider saving money, driving less, having a better selection of foods, and have the ability to buy organic foods as an important factor when choosing where to buy foods. Further, minority populations across the nation need to drive a significantly greater (p < 0.05) amount of time to reach their destinations than white populations.ConclusionThis underscores the importance, and scope of the issues, of promoting and implementing more equitably distributed opportunities to purchase healthy food options throughout the United States.
Highlights
Prior research has demonstrated minority communities have fewer options to access healthy foods when compared to their majority counterparts
While access to highquality food is scarce in African American communities, calorie dense fast-food restaurants are in abundance
While there was slight over representation of non-Hispanic white individuals (73%), minority status participants had sizable representation (26%), and a wide range of ages were present with a mean age of 49.86
Summary
Prior research has demonstrated minority communities have fewer options to access healthy foods when compared to their majority counterparts. While much focus has been placed upon community-level resources, little research has been placed on the efforts that minority groups need to undergo to reach wellstocked stores to purchase healthy food options. The unequal access to affordable high-quality food within the United States has been highlighted in recent years. In 2013, there were an estimated 17.5 million households that were food insecure with a disproportionate burden placed upon African American and Hispanic homes [1]. While access to highquality food is scarce in African American communities, calorie dense fast-food restaurants are in abundance. A food density study showed that neighborhoods with an 80% or greater proportion of African American residents had an average of 2.4 restaurants/mile compared to 1.5
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