Evaluating Consumer Nutrition Environment in Food Deserts and Food Swamps.

He Jin,Yongmei Lu

doi:10.3390/ijerph18052675

Abstract

This research examines the consumer nutrition environment in the selected neighborhoods identified as food deserts, food swamps, and food oases in Austin, Texas, by considering food availability, food price, food quality, and food labeling. A food auditing instrument M-TxNEA-S (He Jin, San Marcos, TX, USA) was developed to capture the unique dietary culture and food preferences in Texas. A total of 93 food items in 14 grocery stores and supermarkets (GS) and 32 convenience stores (CS) were surveyed. The GS in food swamps and food oases were found to offer significantly more healthy foods than the CS. The availability of healthy food in the GS in the food swamps and food oases is significantly higher than that of the GS from the food deserts; CS in the three neighborhoods did not exhibit a significant difference in healthy food availability. There was no significant difference between the price for the healthy items (lower fat, lower calorie, and whole grain) and that for the regular food options. No significant difference was found for food quality or food labeling between the stores from the different types of neighborhoods. The GS in food deserts are small grocery stores carrying limited ranges of foods. The establishment of larger food stores in the food deserts might not be very rewarding, but opening more small grocery stores with healthier options may alleviate food issues.

Highlights

In 2011, 37.1% of residents in Austin, Texas were overweight, and 27.0% were obese.By 2016, the percentages had risen by 21%
We examined the consumer nutrition environment in the food deserts, food swamps, and food oases in Austin, Texas by creating a new food survey instrument to better represent residents’ dietary cultural preferences in the southern United States
The consumer nutrition environment usually contains food availability, price, and quality. Our research extended it and included food labeling, which has been underexamined by other studies

Summary

Introduction

In 2011, 37.1% of residents in Austin, Texas were overweight, and 27.0% were obese.By 2016, the percentages had risen by 21%. Studies examined the effects of physical inactivity and diet on overweight and obesity [1,2,3], and these studies found that diet has a greater effect on weight outcomes [4]. Several recent studies explored the impact of the diet nutrition environment on dietary behaviors and weight status [5,6,7,8,9,10]. Among different frameworks for investigating the nutrition environment, Glanz and colleagues’ framework is the most renowned [2]. This framework suggests that the nutrition environment consists of two aspects: community nutrition environment and consumer nutrition environments. The consumer nutrition environment has been less studied compared to the community nutrition environment [2]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion