Abstract
ObjectivesTo describe the food environments experienced by American Indians living on tribal lands in California.MethodsGeocoded statewide food business data were used to define and categorize existing food vendors into healthy, unhealthy, and intermediate composite categories. Distance to and density of each of the composite food vendor categories for tribal lands and nontribal lands were compared using multivariate linear regression. Quantitative results were concurrently triangulated with qualitative data from in-depth interviews with tribal members (n = 24).ResultsAfter adjusting for census tract-level urbanicity and per capita income, results indicate there were significantly fewer healthy food outlets per square mile for tribal areas compared to non-tribal areas. Density of unhealthy outlets was not significantly different for tribal versus non-tribal areas. Tribal members perceived their food environment negatively and reported barriers to the acquisition of healthy food.ConclusionsUrbanicity and per capita income do not completely account for disparities in food environments among American Indians tribal lands compared to nontribal lands. This disparity in access to healthy food may present a barrier to acting on the intention to consume healthy food.
Highlights
American Indian/Alaskan native ( American Indian) are disproportionately burdened by non-communicable diseases, such as obesity and diabetes, when compared to white Americans [1,2,3]
Urbanicity and per capita income do not completely account for disparities in food environments among American Indians tribal lands compared to nontribal lands
For the density analyses of food vendors, tribal area was defined as U.S census tract boundaries that encompassed the tribal land because actual tribal lands in California are typically very small and have very few businesses located on these lands
Summary
To describe the food environments experienced by American Indians living on tribal lands in California.
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